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'VILLAGE ' 



SERMONS 



DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL. 



BY BERNARD WHITMAN 




BOSTON: 

LEONARD C. BOWLES. 

183 2. 









* *J 






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\s*N 5 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in tho year 1832, by 

Leonard C. Bowles, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



/4-sf 



W aitt & D o w ' s Press. 



LC Control Number 



tmp96 



027039 



$*«£■ 



CONTENTS. 



Sermon. Pa^e. 

I. Manner of studying the Scriptures - 5 
II. Advantages of studying the Scriptures - 17 

III. Excuses for neglecting public worship- 

examined ----- 32 

IV. Necessity of doing as well as hearing 

the word - - - - - 46 

V. How to make religious impressions pro- 

ductive of good fruits 59 

VI. No escape from the punishment of sin 

but in reformation - - - - 68 

VII. Disobedience inexcusable - - 81 

VIII. Faults remembered and corrected - 92 

IX, Christian Resignation - - 101 

X. God is Love 123 

XI. Religion the one thing needful - - 132 
XII. Guilt of seeking riches by sinful means 142 
XIII. Benefit of Afflictions 156 
XIV. r Preparation for Death - - - 165 
XV. Character and condition of the right- 
eous 177 



XVI. Character and condition of the wicked 188 
XVII. Love to enemies - - 199 

XVIII. Christ our Teacher - - - - 215 
XIX. The Gospel a safe guide of faith and 

practice 229 

XX. Youth persuaded to become practical 

Christians 244 

XXI. Nature and necessity of holiness - 261 
XXII. Christian improvement - 277 



SERMON I. 

MANNER OF STUDYING THE SCRIPTURES. 
JOHN V. 39. SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 

Your attention is requested this morning to some 
remarks on the proper manner of studying the scrip- 
tures. ^ You profess to receive the sacred writings, 
my friends, as the only safe standard of christian be- 
lief and practice. You do not consider yourselves 
answerable to any earthly tribunal for the sentiments 
you derive from their pages. You must therefore 
realize the great importance of ascertaining their true 
meaning. To aid you in the successful discharge of 
this primary duty, will be the design of my present 
discourse. 

1. If then you would obtain the true meaning of 
the scriptures, you must search them with earnest- 
ness. You must adopt such methods of study, and 
resort to such means of explanation, and spend so 
much time in the examination, as will ensure suc- 
cess in your undertaking. Let me illustrate this ob- 
servation. Suppose then you begin the investigation 
of the christian religion with the gospel of Matthew. 
This contains a complete history of the birth and life, 
the labors and teachings, the sufferings and death, the 
2 



resurrection and ascension of Christ Jesus. Now 
you will find the sense of this narrative greatly ob- 
scured, by being chopped into chapters and verses, 
without any special regard to the meaning of the 
writer or the subject of narration. You will there- 
fore pay no attention to these modern divisions of hu- 
man origin, but read the whole account in its original 
connexion. And you will compare one passage with 
another, and one portion with another, until you ac- 
quire the clear and consistent meaning of the entire 
gospel. You will also find different speakers intro- 
duced in the history, Jesus and his apostles, the 
pharisees and sadducees, the scribes and rulers. 
You will therefore carefully notice the character of 
those speaking and those addressed ; the object and 
design of their several discourses, and the general 
tenor of their arguments and illustrations. In this 
way you will not be likely to mistake the real import 
of their remarks, reasonings and illustrations ; nor to 
receive for divine truth, the contradictions and ob- 
servations and quibbles of the ignorant disciple or 
the prejudiced enemy of the commissioned messiah. 
You will likewise find some directions which were 
applicable only to the apostles and first christians ; 
some denunciations which were levelled only against 
the unbelieving and hypocritical jews, and some 
prophetic predictions which had their fulfilment in 
the early ages of the church. You will therefore ju- 
diciously separate whatever is of a loca nature and 
temporary interest, from what is of universal applica- 
tion and permanent value. You will not apply to 



yourselves and the present times, what was design- 
ed solely for other persons and by gone periods. 
You will moreover find frequent allusions to the then 
existing manners, customs, laws, religion, opinions, 
disputes, prejudices, scenes and circumstances. You 
will therefore seek for a proper explanation of a 
these difficulties from various parts of the sacred 
writings themselves, and especially from some one 
or more of the numberless commentaries on the 
scriptures. You will further find some passages eith- 
er obscured or misrepresented, because our present 
translation was made by men imperfectly acquainted 
with the original languages and biblical criticism, and 
under the influence of party biasses and the restric- 
tions of royal authority. You will therefore compare 
the common version, with some one or more of those 
which have since been published, by men of more sa- 
cred learning, and of different religious sentiments. 
In this way you will be enabled to detect the errors 
of ignorance or prejudice. And finally, you will 
compare the several gospels with one another. In 
this process you will find some things related by one 
writer, which were omitted by others ; and even the 
same transaction ^described in different style and lan- 
guage. You will find some unimportant discrepan- 
cies on nonessential questions among the evangelists ; 
while they exhibit a w T onderful harmony on all sub- 
jects of vital interest. All this will serve to convince 
you most satisfactorily that the sacred w T riters form- 
ed no combination to deceive the world, but that 
their testimony is worthy of all credit and accepta- 



tion. You will pursue the same method in relation 
to the apostolic epistles. You will soon discover 
that a knowledge of one gospel or one epistle, will 
greatly facilitate your understanding of the remain- 
der. Your studies will grow more and more inter- 
esting and successful. In due time you will acquire 
an accurate and comprehensive conception of the 
christian religion. You will come to the conclusion 
that the sacred writings are consistent with themselves, 
and that they contain a rational and divine system of 
faith and morals. And your earnestness in search- 
ing them will be manifested by your patient, zealous, 
untiring perseverance in this commanded duty. 

2. If you would obtain the true meaning of the 
scriptures, you must also search them with honesty. 
To do this successfully, you will conscientiously 
endeavor to divest your minds of all the doctrinal im- 
pressions of infancy, of the erroneous conceptions 
of childhood, and of the religious opinions imbibed 
in riper years from human catechisms and compo- 
sitions. You will also sincerely endeavor to banish 
from your hearts all prepossessions in favor or against 
any particular set of articles, any of the prevailing 
party sentiments or any class of religionists ; and 
anxiously try to have them as free from the influence 
of sectarian biasses and established formularies of 
faith, as though you were ignorant of the numberless 
divisions of the christian denomination. If you can 
thus approach the sacred records, uninfluenced by 
human authority, unbiassed by preconceived systems, 
unprejudiced by party attachments, you will be in a 



proper state to receive the truth as it is in Jesus. 
You will feel prepared to take your seat at the feet 
of this anointed Saviour, and listen to his instructions 
with childlike, teachable, humble dispositions. And 
such perfect and decided honesty will insure your suc- 
cess in this worthy undertaking. But if you go to 
the scriptures with a determination of making them 
speak the language of your adopted creed ; if you 
seek only for passages to prove the truth of your 
favorite opinions ; if your slightly pass over those texts 
which appear to be in opposition to your settled views ; 
if you take verses from their connexion and give 
them an unwarrantable meaning; if you confine 
your examination to such sections as appear to favor 
your sectarian feelings and desires 5 if you are un- 
willing to notice the proof texts of your opponents, 
you discover little or no honesty in your search. For 
such a course fully evinces that you are determined 
to embrace no truths which contradict your previ- 
ously received opinions. This surely is not making 
the scriptures the standard of your christian faith, 
but your own will, your party prejudices, your pre- 
conceived system, your human creed. All this is 
grossly dishonest. And what would you expect to 
gain by such an unfair and degrading process ? Is 
not divine truth of more value than any long estab- 
lished errors ? of more value than the favor of any 
christian sect ? of more value even than the affec- 
tion of the nearest and dearest friends ? And could 
you hope to deceive your omniscient Father, who is 
psesent with you at all times ? who sees the secret 
2* 



10 

decisions of your thoughts and the dishonest counsels 
of your depravity; and to whom alone you are ac- 
countable for your religious sentiments and obser- 
vances ? He that made the eye, shall he not see ? 
He that formed the ear, shall he not hear ? He that 
moulded the heart, shall he not know its hidden 
workings ? Surely. And it is equally sure that no 
dishonesty can even alter the nature of truth. It is 
the same yesterday, today and forever. And if you 
handle the word of God deceitfully, your deceit will 
not only destroy your peace of mind and self-respect, 
but will excite the bitter compunctions of an ac- 
cusing conscience, and rise up to your condemnation 
in the world to come. Be determined then to search 
the scriptures with honesty, to sacrifice every errone- 
ous early association, every party prejudice, every 
dearly prized error on the altar of divine truth. 

3. If you would obtain the true meaning of the 
scriptures, you must likewise search them with bold- 
ness. No fear of consequences should deter you 
from a thorough examination of the sacred records ; 
for there is nothing serious for you to fear in this 
land of liberty. Perhaps however one may say * I have 
received certain doctriues as true, and I fear to search 
the scriptures boldly, lest they should be proved false !' 
But is this the disposition which Christ requires in a 
true disciple? Except ye become as little children, 
as ready to believe his instructions as children are to 
receive the teachings of their parents, ye cannot en- 
ter the christian school or kingdom of heaven. And 
is not all error pernicious in a greater or less degree ? 



11 

Is not all truth salutary and productive of more or 
less good ? Have you any interest in cherishing hurt- 
ful errors, which must sooner or later be revealed to 
your souls ? Banish then all fear of truth, and search 
for her as for hidden treasures. Receive her as 
your best friend and safest companion. And expel 
from your bosom all error as of earthly origin and 
deadly influence. Perhaps another may observe, 
' I belong to a certain denomination, and I am afraid 
to search the scriptures fearlessly, lest I should be 
obliged to leave my present connexion and unite 
with those I now dislike !' But why this fear ? You 
are answerable to no man, to no body of men, to no 
sect, to none but God, for your religious sentiments. 
And no man nor any party of men have any right to 
injure your feelings or even a hair of your head, on 
account of any change in your christian belief. 
Should any one be so abandoned as to attempt any 
thing of the kind, he would be justly exposed to the 
censure of the great Head of the church, who is the 
only lawful master of his own disciples. Neither 
have you any right to hate any christian denomina- 
tion. So long as any party adheres to the bible as 
their only standard of faith and practice, and exhibits a 
virtuous and pious behavior, it is, entitled to the 
christian name, rights and privileges. Bring then 
to the test of reason and scripture every opinion 
which you receive as gospel truth, however sacred, 
or by whomsoever believed. Perhaps a third may 
remark. * I am afraid to search the scriptures with 
boldness, because I may lose all my religion in re- 



12 

nouncing my present sentiments !' I would hope 
that the religion of no one rests on so slender a 
foundation as a douhtful or disputed opinion. If so, 
it is of little worth. No. The fundamental princi- 
ples of Christianity are embraced by all true disciples, 
and on these their religious characters depend, and 
not on the pculiarities of any sect or party. You 
may give up every peculiarity of every christian de- 
nomination, and if you have any religion it will still 
remain undisturbed on the common foundation. 
Your love to God, to Jesus and to your fellow men ; 
your virtuous, pious, christian character, will sustain 
no injury by giving up every erroneous principle of 
your creed. And if these are unshaken, your reli- 
gion, all the religion worth having, will be perfectly 
safe. No, my friends, there is no danger in search- 
ing the scriptures too boldly. You are interested to 
know but one thing, the truth as it is in Jesus. You are 
concerned to fear but one thing, that is error. If you 
obtain the truth, no matter how many false opinions 
you lose ; no matter how many frowns you encounter ; 
no matter in what denomination it places you ; for 
you are answerable to God only for your faith ; and 
you are therefore bound as in his presence to search 
his holy word with boldness. 

4. If you would obtain the true meaning of the 
scriptures, you must search them with personal self- 
application. You must literally make them the guide 
of your faith and the rule of your conduct. When 
you find any doctrine plainly revealed, you will em- 
brace it as divine truth, and cause it to exert its 



13 

proper influence on your hearts and lives. Take 
the fact of an overruling providence. You should 
dwell upon this truth, that your heavenly Father 
orders and permits all the events of this world, 
and that he designs your best good in all his dispen- 
sations, until it renders you habitually virtuous, pious, 
contented and cheerful. When also you find any 
duty plainly commanded, you will reduce it to daily 
practice. Take the exercise of secret prayer. Your 
constant dependence, your manifold blessings, your 
aggravated sinfulness, and your numerous unceasing 
wants, will ever furnish you with materials for your 
private devotions. And as these are constantly oc- 
curring, so let your thoughts arise to your ever pres- 
ent Father, daily and even hourly, until a habit of 
communion and worship and confidence becomes 
thoroughly established. When likewise you find 
any practice plainly condemned, you will forsake 
and avoid it with all diligence. Take the vice of 
evil speaking. Seeing how much mischief it pro- ' 
duces in society, realizing your own imperfections 
and failings, and remembering your accountable- 
ness for every idle word, you will be induced to 
keep a guard on your lips. And you will persevere 
until the habit of self-control is fully acquired. And 
finally, when you find any motives plainly declared, 
you will give them all due influence on your feelings 
and conduct. Take the righteous retributions of 
eternity. You are solemnly assured that all who are 
in their graves shall come forth, those who have 
done good unto the resurrection of life, and those 



14 

who have done evil unto the resurrection of condem- 
nation. This simple fact that we are all to be re- 
warded or punished according to our deeds, should 
ever dwell upon your minds, influence your whole 
behavior, and deter you from all iniquity. 

Now this is what I mean by searching the scrip- 
tures with a practical self-application. This is ne- 
cessary in no small degree to qualify you for obtain- 
ing the true meaning of the sacred writers. An im- 
moral person is no proper judge of divine and spirit- 
ual truth. Take one example in illustration of this 
assertion. You know our Saviour has commanded 
us to love our enemies, to cherish good will towards 
those who would injure us, to keep our minds free 
from all hatred and revenge. Some infidel writers 
have ridiculed this precept as impracticable and ab- 
surd, while their own experience has proved its truth 
and importance. For while sneering at a principle 
so rational and so necessary, they have indulged ill- 
will and inimical feelings towards their fellowmen ; 
and these base passions have destroyed their inward 
peace and comfort, and rendered them objects of 
pity and contempt. This remark is also confirmed 
by the important declaration of our Saviour. If any 
man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, 
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. 
By applying to your own wants the instructions of 
revelation, you will soon learn that they are admira- 
bly adapted to your condition, your necessities, your 
circumstances. Be determined then, my friends, to 
make a practical self-application of all the teachings 
of the scriptures ; to believe all revealed truth, to 



15 

perform all commanded duty, to avoid all forbidden 
practice, and to realize all declared motives and con- 
solations. 

5. If you would obtain the true meaning of the 
scriptures, you must search them with prayer. When 
you take them up for perusal, you will raise your 
thoughts and desires to your ever present Father. 
You will breathe the thanksgivings of your soul for 
the unspeakable gift of a divine revelation. You will 
secretly implore his assistance in ascertaining its true 
meaning. Will you thank God for the daily comforts 
which crown your days, and will you not bless him 
for the words of everlasting life ? Will you pray to 
be delivered from temptation, and will you not seek 
for deliverance from hurtful and pernicious error? 
Will you look for divine direction in the performance 
of your lawful labors, and will you not invoke heav- 
enly guidance in the ways of spiritual truth and duty. 
And is not this a most suitable subject of prayer ? 
Will not the influence of such devotions be most sal- 
utary on your own minds ? Will you dare to ask di- 
vine aid in searching the scriptures, unless you mean 
to be in earnest in your undertaking ? When you re- 
alize that a blessing has been invoked on your 
labors, will you dare to be dishonest or fearful 
in your investigations ? Will you dare to be disobe- 
dient to the truths discovered, and slight them as of 
little or no consequence ? And above all, do you not 
actually need the influence of your Father's spirit to 
enlighten your understandings so as to discover won- 
drous things in the divine revelation ? And have you 
not encouragement to expect he will assist in purifying 



16 

your hearts from error, and in acquiring a saving 
knowledge of his holy will ? Surely, the inducements 
to prayer for spiritual light and guidance, are many 
and powerful. 

These imperfect hints will be of no service, my 
friends, unless reduced to practice. What ! will you 
be in earnest in seeking for riches, and honors, and 
pleasures ? and can you be willing to neglect the 
pressing wants of the undying soul, to make no pro- 
vision for its spiritual welfare, and pay no serious re- 
gard to the words of your commissioned Saviour? 
Will you be honest in all your intentions for this 
world, in all your dealings, in all your labors? and 
are you willing to practise the grossest dishonesty in 
searching for the pearl of great price, in striving after 
eternal treasures, in forming a character for heaven ? 
Will you be bold and fearless in your inquiries after 
literary, political, scientific knowledge ? and are you 
willing to leave the fair field of revelation for others 
to explore, and to dictate to you what truths are es- 
sential to your salvation, and to denounce you as des- 
titute of the christian character, unless you abide by 
the result of their investigations ? Will you search 
the scriptures for dispute, for controversy, for victo- 
ry, for infidelity ? and are you willing to make no ap- 
plication of its heavenly instructions to your own 
wants and necessities? Will you pray for daily 
bread, and can you neglect to look up for divine il- 
lumination on the great discoveries of revelation? O 
no. You will not be so inconsistent. You will search 
the scriptures with earnestness, with honesty, with 
boldness, with self-application, with humble prayer. 



SERMON II. 

ADVANTAGES OF STUDYING THE SCRIPTURES. 
JOHN V. 39. SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 

Your attention is requested this afternoon to some 
remarks on the advantages of studying the scrip- 
tures. Very many might be enumerated ; but I 
shall have time to mention and illustrate but four of 
the most important. 

1. You must search the scriptures, if you would 
become familiar with the most important truths. 
What truths so important as those which make us 
acquainted with the nature and character and gov- 
ernment of our Creator ? What truths so essential as 
those which teach us our origin and ability and duty 
and happiness ? Such are the leading truths which 
you find in the records of our revelation. From 
these sacred writings, you learn that the author of 
creation is a Spirit, existing in one person, and pos- 
sessed of every possible perfection. You learn that 
he is a being of infinite love, the unchangeable 
Father of his human family, and the fountain of all 
temporal and spiritual blessings. You learn that he 
rules the world in perfect wisdom and benevolence, 
3 



18 

designing the best good of his dependent children in 
all his various dispensations, and desirous that all 
should come to the knowledge and practice of good- 
ness so as to be saved. You learn that he created us 
for ever increasing and never ending happiness, and 
that he has so loved us, notwithstanding our sinful- 
ness, as to send his only begotten son to reconcile us 
to himself, and thus be the instrument of saving us 
from ignorance, error, sin and death. You learn 
that Jesus appeared on earth in the fulness of time, 
that his divine mission was amply confirmed by the 
miracles which God wrought by him, and that he is 
now accomplishing the great work of his advent by 
the influence of his instructions and example and 
labors and death and resurrection. You learn that 
he requires of us the possession of certain disposi- 
tions, the practice of certain duties, the formation of 
a certain character, as essential to our reconciliation. 
You learn that these dispositions and duties and 
character, are the natural results of fulfilling the re- 
lations we sustain towards our heavenly Father, our 
appointed Saviour and our fellow men. You learn 
that the fulfilment of our respective obligations is re- 
quisite to our present peace and comfort as well as 
to our future welfare. You learn that this world is 
not our final home, but that we are destined to a 
never ending existence beyond the grave. You 
learn that our happiness both here and hereafter 
.must depend on our moral goodness, that God is no 
respecter of persons, but accepteth all who fear him 
and work righteousness. So that we have every 



19 

motive to a sober, righteous and godly life, in the pa- 
ternal character of our Creator, in the surpassing 
love and disinterested sacrifices of our Saviour, in 
the certainty of rewards and punishments both as 
concerns this world and the next. And can any 
truths be so important as these to dependent, suffer- 
ing, sinful, afflicted, dying mortals ? And can you 
find these truths plainly taught and properly authenti- 
cated except in the records of our revelation ? 

Is it not then truly essential to your real happi- 
ness to have your minds familiar with these divine 
truths ? Can you contentedly live in comparative 
ignorance and neglect of such heavenly instructions? 
You may indeed for a time, while you are in youth, 
health or prosperity. But, my friends, be as- 
sured that such golden hours will not last forever. 
The world is full of change, and you are born to 
trouble as the sparks fly upwards; and the only 
antidote to all the troubles of this transitory life is 
furnished in the teachings of Jesus. And can you 
now neglect to secure this precious treasure? Can 
you now slight that knowledge which you need 
every day of your existence ? Yes ; you need the 
principles of the gospel every hour and minute, to 
guide you into truth, to succor you in temptation, to 
influence you in duty, to support you in trial, to con- 
sole you in affliction, to prepare you for a joyful 
death and a glorious immortaliiy. And can you 
prefer the momentary gratifications of your earth- 
ly desires to the spiritual and everlasting satisfaction 
of your uadying souls ? O no. You must sensibly 



20 

feel that the religion of Jesus is of more value to your 
peace, comfort, usefulness, happiness, than all the world 
beside. You will surely be induced by its infinite 
worth to study it with diligence and prayer so as to ob- 
tain its true meaning. And you will often repair to it as 
the only unpolluted fountain of divine knowledge, so 
as to become familiar with the most important truths. 
2. You must search the scriptures, if you would 
become established in the true principles of the gos- 
pel. You well know that the christian world is di- 
vided into various and differing denominations ; and 
that almost every one considers its peculiarities as 
the only true faith and the real fundamentals of 
Christianity. Now what is the principal cause of 
these unhappy divisions? Ignorance of the scrip- 
tures ; an unwillingness to receive the words of Je- 
sus as the standard of truth ; desire to substitute 
human interpretations for the true meaning of the sa- 
cred writers ; an eagerness to acknowledge some 
fallible master to the shameful neglect of the only 
proper instructer of christians. Look into the re- 
ligious world. How many do you find who take 
their views from their own examination of the sacred 
records ? But precious few. On the contrary how 
many may be found who receive their doctrinal sen- 
timents from parents and teachers, friends and minis- 
ters, the church and the catechism, the creed and 
the commentary ! How many who set up human 
standards of truth, as the only terms of admission to 
the christian church, as the only test of piety, as the 
only guide to heaven ! Is it in the least strange that 



21 

there is no more harmony, union and fellowship ? 
No. All these human idols must be dethroned be- 
fore Jesus can reign over those who call themselves 
his followers. All must be willing to receive the 
plain teachings of revelation as the fundamentals of 
the gospel. For all that is essential to your salvation, 
all that is necessary to constitute you a christian, all 
that is required of you either to believe or practise, 
is plainly and clearly revealed. If this were not the 
fact, a heavy charge w T ould rest against the author of 
Christianity ; for he professed to give a religion for 
the poor, the uneducated, the whole of mankind. 
So that in order to become established in the true 
principles of the gospel, you must receive the 
teachings of Jesus in all their purity and simplicity. 
But, my friends, even these plain and fundamental 
truths will never enter your minds by miracle. You 
can receive them in all their power only by person- 
al examination. You cannot obtain them from other 
books. For the expositions of every fallible mortal 
must be more or less tinged with his own imperfec- 
tions and prejudices and errors. And if you arrive 
at different conclusions on some points, as you un- 
doubtedly will, still these disputed articles are not 
the essentials of the gospel ; they are not necessary 
to your christian character or name or hopes. The 
true principles of our religion are comprised within a 
small compass, and will be discovered by every 
faithful searcher of the scriptures, and will lead all 
who receive and obey them to present and endless 

3* 



22 

felicity, whatever other speculations they receive or 
reject. 

And, my friends, on subjects of such momentous 
interest, can you be contented with ignorance or 
misty and indefinite notions ? Can you rest satisfied 
with tfre conclusions of other fallible mortals ? You 
are answerable to God for your religious sentiments, 
and can you willingly neglect the study of his holy 
word, the fountain of living and saving truth ? You 
wish to obtain the true meaning of the sacred writers, 
and will you receive for such the interpretations of 
any prejudiced human guide ? Will you forsake the 
flowing stream, and drink at some stagnant pool? 
You hear different and opposing sentiments proclaim- 
ed as the true faith of the gospel, and will you be 
forever moved about by the ever varying and con- 
flicting opinions of the world, and have no mind, no 
settled belief of your own ? O no. You will make 
yourself thoroughly acquainted with the instruc- 
tions of scripture. For you must perceive that this 
is a duty you owe yourself, your rational and moral 
and immortal nature ; a duty also which you owe 
your fellow christians, your Saviour and your God. 
And in so doing you will obey the injunction of the 
sacred writers. You will be able to state the nature 
of your faith and the evidence on which it is found- 
ed. You will be qualified to defend your peculiar 
views and to refute those of your opponents with 
scriptural and rational arguments. You will be en- 
abled to hear your favorite opinions opposed and de- 
nounced, without experiencing either fear or doubt 



23 

sr alarm. You will be ready to hear opposing senti- 
ments declared, asserted to be essential and defend- 
ed, without being moved from your steadfastness. 
For your belief, being recorded in the plain language 
of Jesus and his apostles, being founded on the 
teachings of the scriptures themselves, being drawn 
from the unpolluted fountain of heavenly wisdom by 
your own exertions, will never fail or desert you. 
No ; not in any period of disputation or persecution 
or danger. And shall not the desire to become thus 
firmly established in the true principles of the gospel 
induce you to search the scriptures even now, while 
you are blessed with youth, health and opportunity ? 
3. You must search the scriptures, if you would 
be secured against the unhappy influence of infideli- 
ty. By infidelity I mean a rejection of all special 
and miraculous revelation. I mean a total unbelief 
in the divine origin of Christianity. Now it appears 
to me, that every benevolent man, every well wisher 
to human happiness and improvement, every reflect- 
ing mortal, must desire the gospel to be true. For 
if he understands the religion of Jesus, he must 
know that it reveals no doctrines but such as are ra- 
tional, and also productive of enjoyment and conso- 
lation to all believers. He must know that it com- 
mands no duties but such as are practicable, and 
also necessary to the true comfort and pleasure of 
the present life. He must know that it forbids no 
sins but such as may be avoided at the beginning of 
temptation, and also fruitful of human wretchedness 
and degradation. He must also know that those in- 



24 

dividuals who live in nearest accordance with the re- 
quisitions of the Saviour, are uniformly and undeni- 
ably the best and happiest husbands and wives, pa- 
rents and children, friends and neighbors, patriots 
and philanthropists. He must know that most of 
the enlightened nations of the earth are indebted to 
the gospel, for their civilization and reformation, for 
their letters and learning, for their good morals and 
benevolent institutions, for the elevation and purity 
and influence of woman, and for all their most pre- 
cious privileges and rights and hopes. And if he is 
a man of consistency, he would as soon think of at- 
tempting to destroy reason itself, because it has led 
so large a majority of the human family to such su- 
perstition error, depravity, and suffering, for so many 
ages of the world, as lie would think of condemning 
Christianity, because it has been sometimes disobeyed 
and abused to the basest and vilest purposes by some 
of its misguided and hypocritical friends. But no one 
can believe without evidence. And there have oc- 
casionally appeared moral men who rejected the gos- 
pel, because they have heard sentiments proclaimed 
as the religion of Jesus, which contradicted the 
clearest dictates of nature and reason and con- 
science, and which shocked the purest feelings of the 
bosom, and the best affections of the heart, and the 
noblest aspirations of the soul. And they have con- 
cluded, and in my opinion wisely concluded, that 
such a system of absurdity and cruelty could not 
have emanated from the fountain of all wisdom and 
love. And thus without any proper examination of 



25 

the scriptures to ascertain if they inculcated such 
barbarous views of the divine character and govern- 
ment, they improperly arrayed themselves against 
even the name of Christianity. 

Here then is one great danger to which you are 
now exposed. You can hear the most irrational and 
inhuman doctrines declared to be the religion of Je- 
sus. You can readily obtain the sneering remarks, 
and false assertions, and sophistical reasonings, and 
blasphemous declarations of infidel writers. And by 
the united influence of both causes, your belief and 
confidence in our divine religion may be destroyed. 
Your condition will then be most pitiable. Yes. 
Take from the christian his faith in Jesus and where 
is he ? He is on heathen ground. He has indeed 
nature, unaided reason, unenlightened conscience, 
for guides to duty and happiness. He has the same 
which all heathen nations have enjoyed ever since 
the origin of idolatry. And what monitors have 
these proved ? Have they led to any good degree 
of sound morality ? or secured any fair proportion 
of temporal happiness ? or given any satisfactory 
hopes of eternal felicity ? Have they been sufficient 
for the moral welfare of individuals and families and 
communities ? No. None of these high and impor- 
tant objects have been attained under their guidance. 
Read the page of history for yourselves, and you can- 
not doubt the truth of my assertion. Take the gos- 
pel from him then, and what has he left ? Nothing 
to teach him the paternal character of his Creator, 
or the acceptable worship of the Supreme Architect- 



26 

Nothing to show him the design of his own existence, 
or assure him of a future life. Nothing to mark out 
the path of duty, or to induce him to obey even the 
laws of nature. Nothing to support him in hours of 
trial, or to console him in seasons of affliction, or give 
him a triumphant hope in the moment of dissolution. 
Take the gospel from him, and you rob him of every- 
thing most dear and valuable. You leave him noth- 
ing for which to live; you hold out nothing for 
which to die. O, deprive him of everything else : 
his property, his friends, his health ; but take not 
away his belief in the blessed gospel of Jesus. 

Your principal security then against this unhappy 
influence of infidelity, consists in a saving knowledge 
of the scriptures themselves. I indeed believe that 
the evidence, external and internal, prophetic, mirac- 
ulous and historical, is amply sufficient to convince 
every candid inquirer, of the divine origin of the 
gospel. It has so convinced the greatest and best 
men who have ever lived. It has so convinced eve^ 
ry one who has examined the subject with attention 
and impartiality. The name of the man or the wo- 
man cannot be mentioned, who has risen from a fair 
and thorough investigation of the evidences of Chris- 
tianity, an unbeliever. But, my friends, you have not 
ail the necessary time for such an undertaking. Still 
your safety may be secured by searching the scrip- 
tures for yourselves. For let any man, of common 
capacities, and ordinary learning, and little leisure, 
faithfully improve his talents, and acquirements, and 
opportunities, in studying the instructions of Jesus 



27 

and his apostles ; let him reduce his knowledge to 
practice, and become a pious, benevolent, pure and 
humble christian, and he will be convinced of the heav- 
enly origin of the gospel. He will have the evi- 
dence of its truth within him, in the testimony of his 
own soul and conscience. He will feel its perfect 
adaptation to his nature and condition and wants, as 
a dependent, suffering, sinful, dying creature. He 
will perceive that it is absolutely necessary to make 
him good, and useful, and happy. And with this 
evidence from his own mind and experience, you 
can no more shake his belief in Jesus by the weapons 
of infidelity, than you can shake the everlasting 
mountains with such impotent means. And such tes-* 
timony may every one possess in his own character 
and heart, who will pursue this process. Will you 
then neglect so powerful a defence against so threat- 
ening and destructive a plague? O no. As you 
value the precious gospel, in its influence on society, 
in its influence in the family, in its influence on your 
own peace ' and hopes and felicity, you will not 
slight this only remaining security. 

4. You must search the scriptures, if you would 
pass safely and happily through this world, and en- 
ter with joy upon a heavenly inheritance. You well 
know that we are in a state not only of gladness and 
prosperity, but also of doubt and temptation, of sin 
and suffering, of bereavement and death. Now if 
you understand, and believe, and obey the gospel, 
you will be prepared for the various changes and tri- 
als and enjoyments of your mortal pilgrimage. You 



2S 

will be enabled to surmount all the obstacles which 
oppose your progress in the palh of duty and im- 
provement and usefulness. You will be qualified to 
secure pure and rational happiness for every day and » 
every hour of your passage. For in the season of 
joy, when your temporal gratifications are abundant- 
ly multiplied, the voice of heavenly wisdom will ad- 
monish you, to use the world as not abusing it, and 
ever to remember with pleasing gratitude the Author 
and giver of every good and perfect gift. And in 
the time of doubt, when you know not the way of 
righteousness, the language of inspiration will arise 
in your minds proclaiming. This is the way, walk ye 
ifi the path of rectitude. And in the moment of 
temptation, when you are hesitating between the 
right and the wrong, the word of God wiil direct you, 
as it once did our Saviour, to victory and duty. 
And in the hour of remorse, when your souls are op- 
pressed with the burden of your iniquities, some gra- 
cious invitation of the blessed gospel will occur, and 
gently draw you to reformation and pardon, and thus 
impart to your troubled conscience that sweet peace 
which the world can neither give nor take away. 
And in the day of suffering, when your health has 
departed, or your hopes been deceived, or your 
friends disgraced, or your prospects blasted, the mes- 
senger of religion will whisper comfort to your weak 
and despairing spirits, and assure you that all things 
rightly improved shall work together for your best 
temporal and spiritual welfare. And in the period of 
bereavement, when death has taken the friends en- 






29 

cleared by all the ties of affection, the teachings of 
the sympathizing Jesus, will convey the message of 
consolation to your hearts, and direct you to look 
beyond this transitory scene for permanent felicity, 
even to- those blissful mansions where all the ran- 
somed of the Lord shall again unite in eternal love 
and friendship. And when the last farewell begins 
to falter on your own tongues, having been governed 
by the principles of our Saviour, you can look back 
with satisfaction upon a well spent life ; and having 
a firm and cheering trust in your ever present Fath- 
er, and an unshaken confidence in the certainty of a 
future happy immortality, you can look forward to 
the promised land with well grounded hopes of end- 
less felicity. All this the religion of Jesus has done 
for thousands and tens of thousands ; for all who 
have searched the scriptures in the manner describ- 
ed. And all this it will do for all of you who imi- 
tate their worthy example. 

And, my friends, is not all this the very assistance 
you daily need ? Are you not constantly exposed 
to the trials either of prosperity or adversity, of doubt 
or difficulty, of temptation or iniquity, of sufFeringor 
sorrow, of affliction or bereavement ? And will you 
neglect this only adequate remedy for all your earth- 
ly trials? Will you disregard the instructions of 
divine wisdom and regulate your course through life 
by the maxims of a corrupt world, and the sugges- 
tions of indolence or avarice or licentious passion ? 
Will you perform those services, and those only, 
which are popular and fashionable and agreeable 
4 



30 

to selfish inclinations ? Or worse than this, will you 
yield to the seductive voice of pleasure, plunge into 
the vortex of dissipation, and rush madly on to infa- 
my and wretchedness? Will you murmur and repine 
at the salutary chastisements of a merciful Father ? 
and mourn for your departed relatives as those who 
have no hope of a happy union after death ? and 
sullenly close your eyes on this earthly scene without 
any expectation of another conscious existence? 
There is indeed no other alternative, if you banish 
the religion of Jesus from your minds and hearts 
and practice. But no ! you cannot thus bring your- 
selves upon a level with the brutes that perish ; you, 
who feel conscious of possessing rational and immor- 
tal souls ; you, who have been blessed with a chris- 
tian education ; you, who have witnessed the pure 
life and happy death of the obedient believer ; you, 
who have beheld the extreme degradation and mis- 
ery of wilful transgression. O no. The word of 
life is in your hands. And shall it be, that this book, 
which contains a religion from the Almighty Ruler 
of the universe ; this book, which cost the only be- 
gotten Son of the Most. High his heart's blood to 
publish ; this book, which conveys the only clear 
knowledge of your Father above, and of the only 
Saviour of our sinful race ; this book, which alone 
makes us acquainted with our nature, and duty, and 
final destination ; this book, which furnishes the only 
effectual remedy for the doubts, and troubles, and 
afflictions of time ; this book which is the only in- 
fallible guide to present and everlasting felicity ; shall 



31 

it be that this precious, priceless book, may lay on 
our shelves unopened, unread, unstudied, from day 
to day, from week to week, from year to year ; and 
that every idle tale, every fictitious story, every 
political slander, every controversial appeal shall en- 
gage our attention and occupy our leisure moments ? 
No. O no. This can never be. I am confident 
you will all search the scriptures with earnestness, 
with honesty, with boldness, with self application and 
with prayer. And I am equally confident, that in 
this way you will become familiar with the most 
important truths, established in the true principles 
of the gospel, secured against the unhappy influ- 
ence of infidelity, prepared to pass safely and hap- 
pily through this world and to enter with joy upon 
a heavenly inheritances 



SERMON III. 



EXCUSES FOR NEGLECTING PUBLIC WORSHIP 
EXAMINED. 



HEBREWS X. 25. NOT FORSAKING THE ASSEMBLING OF OUR- 
SELVES TOGETHER, AS THE MANNER OF SOME IS. 

From these words I shall take occasion to exam- 
ine some of the common excuses for neglecting 
public worship. I would not be severe or unrea- 
sonable or uncharitable in my remarks. I well 
know that many persons are necessarily detained 
from the house of God on certain days and particu- 
lar occasions. Ill health, domestic concerns, bad 
weather and travelling, and a variety of other causes 
furnish satisfactory excuses. 

1 . The first excuse which I shall notice is this ; 
the want of proper clothing. This is offered by 
two different classes of persons. The first are those 
who are unwilling to appear at church unless they 
can make as showy an appearance as any in their 
station. Hence they are frequently detained at 
home by this ambition. Now is not this a false 
principle of action ? Does it not originate in unbe- 
coming pride ? And is it not productive of perni- 
cious consequences ? With such vanity, even when 



33 

assembled with spiritual worshippers, your thoughts 
will probably be confined to yourselves. And while 
thinking of your external appearance, can you 
receive useful instruction ? While securing the 
applause of your fellow creatures, can you heartily 
unite in the worship of your Creator-? Will the 
beauty and splendor of your garments render the 
sacred exercises more acceptable to your Saviour? 
Do you assemble on the sabbath to display your 
taste and fashion, to attract notice and excite obser- 
vation ? Or to bow down with reverence and grati- 
tude before the Father of your spirits, who is no 
respecter of persons, and who judges not according 
to the outward appearance, but looks on the heart, 
and gives grace to the humble ? O let not sinful 
pride detain any one of you from assembling with 
those who keep holy time. Think more of the 
Sunday dresses of your souls, and less of the out- 
ward adorning of your bodies, when you prepare to 
enter the house of your heavenly Father. 

The other class who make this excuse, are 
those whom misfortune has reduced from more 
affluent circumstances. They are indeed deserving 
of christian sympathy. But, my friends, because 
infinite wisdom has deprived you of one favor, will 
you deprive yourselves of greater blessings ? Will 
you let. an unsubmissive spirit detain you from the 
sanctuary for the afflicted ? The church is the only 
place this side the mouldering grave, where the 
rich and the poor, the learned and ignorant are 
taught to forget the momentary distinctions of birth 
4* 



34 

and rank and station and fortune, and to realize 
their dependence on that all wise Governor, who 
makes one to differ from another, and who is still 
the Father of all his family. Here is offered to 
your acceptance that good portion which can never 
be taken away. Here you may obtain those 
spiritual treasures which cannot be corrupted or 
consumed. Here you may acquire that heavenly 
love which casts out all fear of man. Here you 
may secure a title to an inheritance, uncorrupted 
and undefiled and unfading. Here you are offer- 
ed an adequate remedy for all your temporal afflic- 
tions. And because you have lost some of those 
things which perish with the using, will you refuse 
imperishable riches ? O forsake not this last resort 
of disappointed hope. Reject not the invaluable 
legacy of your risen Saviour. Ever imitate his 
uniform custom of visiting your Father's house on 
each returning sabbath. Any apparel which does 
not attract attention or excite observation, either by 
its meanness or splendor, is proper for the house of 
God. And I presume there are none in our reli- 
gious society who are unable to obtain such raiment ; 
consequently this is not a satisfactory excuse for 
either class. 

2. The second excuse which I shall consider is 
this ; fatigue caused by the labors of the preceding 
week. I well know there are times and seasons 
when extra exertions seem necessary. And they 
doubtless unfit a person for a profitable religious 
observance of the sabbath. But such periods 



35 

seldom occur. And if a person is able to be about, 
I believe he would suffer no inconvenience from 
attending church. Nay, I think he would feel 
much better so to do, than he would to benumb and 
stupify his faculties by a whole day's idleness 
and sleep. To prepare himself for the sanctuary ; 
to breathe the pure atmosphere ; to meet the joy- 
ful countenances of his acquaintances ; to unite in 
the soothing voice of devotion ; to have his feelings 
enlivened by animating music 5 to have his mind 
stored with useful reflections, would have a most 
salutary effect on his spirits. In no other way could 
he obtain so much real relaxation, receive so much 
pure enjoyment, and become so well prepared for 
the labors of the ensuing week. This excuse 
therefore will seldom apply. 

But why should any one wish to disqualify him- 
self by excessive labor for the public worship of 
God ? The sabbath was made for man ; for his 
best interests ; for his highest improvements ; for 
his richest happiness. We have rational and 
immortal souls. These we are to educate for a 
spiritual world, where our labors, enjoyments, socie- 
ty will be pure and intellectual. And that all might 
have an opportunity of acquiring these qualifications 
for felicity, our merciful Father has set apart one 
seventh part of our time for this most important pur- 
pose. And if we faithfully improve this sacred sea- 
son, in meditating on his works and word, in acquir- 
ing a love for his worship and service, in forming 
christian characters, we shall be prepared, not only 



36 

to perform the duties, encounter the temptations, 
submit to the trials, and enjoy the pleasures of life, 
but to enjoy the felicity and perform the duties of 
a heavenly inheritance ; and in this way we may 
make the sabbath answer the end for which it was 
designed. 

But if we neglect to improve this day religious- 
ly ; if we spend it in sleep, or idleness, or unne- 
cessary business, or improper reading, or unlawful 
amusements, or sinful dissipation, we become more 
worldly minded and depraved. We lose our 
relish for the purer joys of religion. We contract 
hurtful and dangerous habits. Our influence and 
respectability are diminished. In times of sickness 
and bereavement we are deprived of the consola- 
tions of the gospel. In some instances we become 
thoroughly abandoned. And in the hour of death, 
our past neglect will fill our mind with anguish, and 
darken our prospect of a blessed immortality. Let 
this not be the case with any of you. Amidst the 
follies and trials and vices of the world, do have one 
day in seven in which you can forget these perish- 
ing vanities, and look forward to that everlasting rest 
which remains for the children of God. You can 
labor enough for the support of these frail decay- 
ing bodies, without encroaching on the season 
of sacred meditation and worship. Let there 
never be occasion for you to say that you are too 
much fatigued to attend on the public worship of 
your Maker. For such an excuse will not be sat- 
isfactory in the court of conscience or heaven. 



37 

3. The third excuse which I shall mention is this ; 
a dislike of the preacher. If a minister is unchari- 
table, and condemns those who conscientiously em- 
brace different religious sentiments, no one can be 
blamed for leaving his ministrations. Neither can 
any one be justly censured for changing his place of 
worship, when he can attend upon religious instruc- 
tions more congenial to his views and feelings. But 
it seems altogether unreasonable to forsake the 
church on account of some slight difference in reli- 
gious sentiments, or something disagreeable in the 
style or manner of the preacher. It is perfectly ab- 
surd to expect one person so to think on all subjects, 
and so to appear on all occasion, as to please the 
differing tastes of a whole congregation. Neither is 
this at all necessary, could it be done, for spiritual 
improvement. Our Saviour has no where required 
a unity of sentiment among his followers. Religious 
instructions should be dispensed with charity and 
examined with candor. You are to prove all things 
by reason and scripture, and to hold fast what you 
believe to be good. Receive and improve the truth ; 
discover and reject the error. With these rights 
freely granted, no one can justly complain. And if 
you would absent yourself from church until you can 
find a preacher who speculates on all subjects as you 
do, . you will remain absent to all eternity. No two 
persons, who thought at all, ever thought alike on all 
subjects, and no two ever will. So that this excuse 
is both unreasonable and absurd. 

4. The fourth and last excuse which I shall ex- 
amine is this ; the want of an inclination. Some 



38 

persons are heard to express themselves in the fol- 
lowing terms. We pa}' our proportion for the sup- 
port of public worship. We molest none in the en- 
joyment of their religious sentiments. We attend 
church when we feel disposed. And if we absent 
ourselves most of the time, it is no one's business. 
If you were at sea, and observed a vessel fast ap- 
proaching the fatal rocks, with the captain and crew 
sound asleep, should you not feel it your duty to 
awaken the slumberers, and warn them of their dan- 
ger ? Certainly, responds every feeling heart. But, 
exclaims the awakened seamen, the vessel is our 
own, the cargo is our own, our lives are our own, 
and what business had you to disturb our repose ? 
If we please to trust ourselves to the mercy of the 
winds and waves and rocks, it is no one's business. 
But, say the benevolent, we performed this act of 
kindness from the best of motives ; solely for your 
good. And when you realize your danger as sensi- 
bly as we do, you will feel truly grateful for your 
deliverance. 

Now this is precisely the answer which obedient 
christians should give to those who offer this excuse 
of indisposition for religious exercises. We give 
you, my friends, this advice and exhortation sole- 
ly for your happiness. We know as surely as 
experience and observation can teach us, that by 
absenting yourselves from christian worship, you de- 
prive yourselves of one of the purest sources of earth- 
ly felicity You set an example which you would 
lament to see followed by your families and friends 



39 

and neighbors. You are forming habits which give 
you no satisfaction, even at the present moment, but 
which will yield you the most bitter fruits in seasons 
of trouble and affliction. This we profess to know 
as certainly as you know that the sleeping mariners 
were in danger of shipwreck ; for these effects have 
almost invariably followed these causes. And we 
also believe that by living in impenitence and irre- 
ligion, you will not be prepared for heavenly happi- 
ness. And shall we not endeavor to awaken you to 
a sense of your danger ? Shall we not strive to 
induce vou to regard your true interest both for time 
and eternity? And should you be aroused to a re- 
gular and hearty performance of your duties, you 
will soon experience the safety and comfort and hap^ 
piness of a religious course. In hours of trial you 
will find support in your christian integrity and puri- 
ty and hopes. And when your eyes shall be closing 
on all earthly objects, the last Words that shall 
tremble on your tongues, will be expressions of 
gratitude for your christian consolations and pros- 
pects. 

But this is not all. Every person is answerable 
for his example. ' And if one may neglect publrc 
worship for a slight excuse, then may all, and thus 
an end would be made to the religious observance 
of the sabbath. Who then would be the sufferers ? 
Not the clergy alone as some seem to imagine. 
They are generally persons of sufficient resources 
to enable them to secure a livelihood in some other 
employment. The people, the great mass of the 



40 

people, would be the principal sufferers. Yes ; visit 
these places in our own country where the sabbath 
is disregarded, and what do you find the state of 
society ? All who are acquainted with such places 
know very well that Sunday is made a day of busi- 
ness or pleasure or dissipation : that the education 
of the rising generation is grossly neglected ; that 
poverty is gaining ground ; that open immorality is 
increasing with rapid strides. Take a survey of the 
world, and you will be convinced that where christian 
institutions are best supported, there is the most in- 
telligence, goodness, happiness. Should the time 
ever arrive when our temples of worship shall be 
demolished or deserted, that time will find us an ig- 
norant, degraded, enslaved people. Let every one 
then look well to his own example. And, my 
friends, let me say to you all, never be kept from the 
house of prayer and instruction by any causes which 
would not detain you from engagements of business 
and pursuits of pleasure. Never rely on any ex- 
cuses which will not satisfy your consciences in sea- 
sons of reflection and sorrow ; which will utterly fail 
you in the hour of sickness and death, and which 
may hereafter rise up to your condemnation. Rely 
on no excuses but such as you will be willing to offer 
your heavenly Father in the period of judgment and 
eternity. 

5. Finally, my friends, I would appeal to your 
own experience on this subject. Can you not secure 
more substantial improvement and more rational 
happiness, by a regular attendance upon the religious 






41 

services of the sanctuary, than you can by spending 
the same number of hours in any other manner 
whatever ? Review the whole process, and decide 
for yourselves. The Sunday arrives. You cease 
from your accustomed labors. Your bodies are rest- 
ed, your strength renewed and your whole system 
refreshed and invigorated. You prepare for church. 
Cleanliness increases your comfort. Different dress 
produces pleasing sensations. Worldly anxiety is 
banished from your thoughts. You then breathe 
the pure atmosphere of heaven. Your feelings are 
agreeably excited. Your spirits are enlivened. 
Moderate exercise improves your health. You en- 
ter the house of worship. Tranquillity pervades 
your soul. You leave behind the tormenting cares 
of earth. You feel raised above the changing 
scenes of time. You sensibly realize your destina- 
tion to a better existence. You understand the 
real dignity of your immortal nature. You strong- 
ly desire to become partakers in the promised ever- 
lasting rest from sin and suffering and death, which 
remains for the faithful and obedient. You observe 
many cheerful countenances around you. Happy 
feelings are inspired in your own bosoms. Friend- 
ly dispositions are cherished in your hearts. Broth- 
erly love takes possession of your souls. The voice 
of prayer is heard. You confess your sins to your 
ever present Father. Vanity, pride and bigotry are 
repressed. Humility and charity and benevolence 
are nourished. Resolutions of further amendment 
and future improvement are formed and strenghened. 
5 



42 

Spiritual aid and guidance are earnestly implored. 
You give thanks for manifold blessings. Your self- 
dependence and self-confidence and presumption are 
checked. Your gratitude is enkindled. Your piety 
is enlarged and rendered more fervent and habitual. 
You listen to the discourse. The interesting and 
solemn themes of duty and death and eternity are 
discussed. Life seems invested with new and infi- 
nite value. Goodness and happiness, vice and mis- 
ery, are seen to be inseparable. In the light of re- 
ligion the charms of earth lose . their attractions. 
Death is divested of its terrors. It is proved to be 
a door of entrance to endless glory; the friend of 
suffering and virtuous humanity, and the wise ap- 
pointment of a benevolent Deity. And eternity is 
welcomed as the only satisfactory nourishment for 
your longings after immortality. You meet and you 
part, as sinful, dependent, mortal children, in the 
presence of a holy and impartial Parent. You thus 
meet and part as equals. And thus you feel your 
standing in the estimation of reason and religion, 
which is necessary to excite you to the forma- 
tion and maintenence of christian characters. And 
when you return to your homes, you generally find 
that your spirits have been calmed, cheered, eleva- 
ted ; your social and benevolent feelings aroused, 
cherished, increased ; your hearts opened for the re- 
ception of the meek and humble graces of the gos- 
pel ; your souls instructed and edified. And on the 
morrow, you go forth into the world, better prepar- 
ed for resisting its temptations, for performing its du- 






43 

ties, for enjoying its pleasures, and for submitting to 
its trials. You go forth with stronger desires for ac- 
quiring and exhibiting virtuous and holy characters. 
Are not my statements correct ? Have you not de- 
rived the benefits and improvements and enjoyments 
described from the exercises of public worship on 
which you have regularly attended ? 

On the other hand, my friends, whenever any one 
of you has spent the Sunday in idleness has it not 
seemed long, tedious, wearisome ? Have not your 
health and feelings and spirits been in a worse con- 
dition at evening's close than at morning's dawn ? 
Have you not considered the day as literally lost, 
so far as anything like improvement or happiness is 
concerned. And if you have even gone so far as to 
pass the sacred season in improper employment or 
sinful dissipation, have you not felt an uneasiness of 
mind ? Have you not experienced the reproaches of 
conscience ? Have you not secretly resolved to re- 
form a practice so hurtful and painful ? And were 
not your characters injured ? Were not previous 
good impressions effaced ? Were not former wise 
resolutions disregarded? Were not your virtuous 
longings and desires dissipated ? Was not your 
reverence for religion and its divine Author destroy- 
ed ? And on after reflection, have not disagreeable 
emotions been awakened in your bosoms ? All this 
you must confess. You must therefore admit that 
you secure greater benefits and improvements and 
enjoyments from your regular attendance at church 
|hon you do when spending the Sunday in any other 



44 

manner. This conclusion is confirmed by your ob- 
servation, your reason, your conscience. 

Act then, my friends, according to your rational 
convictions. Forget not the assembling of your- 
selves together on every returning sabbath. You 
will indeed have many temptations to encounter, and 
ma>ny obstacles to overcome. You may see a cloud 
arising in the west, or a snow-storm gathering in 
the east. A rain may have made the earth too soft, 
or a frost may have rendered its surface too hard. 
A feeling of indolence may possess your souls, or a 
slight pain seize your tooth or your head. You may 
have a new book to read, or an old one to review. 
You may have accounts to post, or hay to secure 
from the weather. Your clothes may be too thick 
or too thin, too old or too new, too much in fashion 
or to muuh out of fashion. You may wish to visit 
your friends, and you may expect visits from them. 
You may expect an old preacher or a young begin- 
ner, a dull sermonizer or a long prayer, a man too 
heterodox in sentiment or too orthodox. Or some 
one of a thousand weak excuses may arise in your 
minds, and prevent your attendance at the house of 
worship. But ever remember that you are rational 
beings, and that your safety and peace and comfort 
and holiness depend on your manfully resisting such 
sinful temptations. And also recollect, that you are 
urged to a regular attendance on public worship by 
many weighty and solemn motives ; by your desire 
for present happiness ; by your suffering and mortal 
condition ; by the example of your chosen master ; 



45 

and by your anxious wish for heavenly felicity. O 
yes ; for if you cannot contentedly spend three hours 
a week in religious exercises, how could you possi- 
bly spend one hour in heaven, where the worship 
and service .are so much purer and more spiritual? 
And should you be required to remain a week in the 
society of pure and holy spirits, how insupportable 
must be your condition ? And should you be com- 
pelled to continue a thousand years among the ran- 
somed of the Lord, how inexpressible must be your 
torment? And should the gates of the celestial 
paradise be thrown open, how quickly and how joy- 
fully would you flee from the presence of your Sa- 
viour and his purified followers ? O never forget 
that you are educating yourselves for another, a 
better, a spiritual world ; and if you cannot here 
enjoy purity, goodness, devotion, heaven will prove 
your severest hell. 
5* 



SERMON IV. 



NECESSITY OF DOING AS WELL AS HEARING THE 
WORD. 



JAMES I. 22. BE YE DOERS OF THE WORD, AND NOT HEAR- 
ERS ONLY, DECEIVING YOUR OWN SELVES. 

You will admit, my friends, that Christianity is the 
greatest blessing which our heavenly Father has 
ever conferred on the human family. You .will also 
acknowledge the vast superiority which christian 
communities possess over those that are under the 
influence of false religions, in civil liberty, in social 
and domestic enjoyment, in mental cultivation and 
moral purity. You must likewise be sensible, that 
the inhabitants of this commonwealth are more 
signally blessed with religious privileges, than any 
other poriion of the christian world. For almost 
every village is provided with a convenient church 
and an ordained pastor ; almost every family is fa- 
vored with a bible and the ability to peruse its 
sacred pages, and to every individual is secured 
perfect freedom of conscience. And when we ob- 
serve the respectable numbers who usually attend 
upon the christian institutions in most of our houses 
of public worship, we are ready to conclude that 



47 

these privileges are properly appreciated and im- 
proved. And our conclusion is in a degree confirmed 
when we witness the cheerful obedience to civil au- 
thority, the social intercourse, the domestic comfort, 
and the correct morals which generally prevail. But 
upon a more intimate survey of society, we have 
reason to doubt the correctness of this conclusion. 
For the distinguishing traits already mentioned are 
not the peculiar fruits of the gospel. And our 
doubts are confirmed when we learn that some who 
attend upon the weekly religious instructions, still 
continue to live immoral lives ; that many more 
disclaim all pretensions to real piety, and that com- 
paratively few, in an explicit manner and in the 
prescribed way, confess Christ before men. 

It therefore becomes a serious inquiry, why Chris- 
tianity, a religion from heaven, so admirably adapt- 
ed to our condition and wants, in a land so con- 
genial to its free spirit, produces no more and no 
better christians ?' I do not deny that it confers 
invaluable blessings on our community. I grant 
that all our virtues, our kind feelings, our benevo- 
lent dispositions, our civil and social and literary and 
domestic institutions, draw more or less of their 
nourishment from its fountain ; and that conscience 
is kept so awakened by its repeated admonitions, as 
to prevent the rapid increase of avarice, sensuality 
and the baser crimes. These indeed are blessings 
of great, of incalculable importance. But these alone 
do not constitute real christians ; do not imply that 
holiness of heart and life, that christian spirit and 



48 

conduct, that love for God and man which are re- 
quired of the disciples of Jesus. 

Where then rests the blame of the partial and 
limited influence of the gospel ? On Christianity 
itself? Certainly not. For in this system of faith 
and morals there is no fault, no want of evidence to 
establish its truth and divine origin, no want of pre- 
cepts for the regulation of every thought and word 
and deed, and living witnesses may be produced to 
testify to its purifying influence on the heart and 
character. It is such a revelation as God saw prop- 
er to bestow upon his dependent children ; and any 
objections urged against the religion will apply with 
equal force against its divine author. Does the 
blame rest on the public teachers of the gospel? 
In some degree no doubt it does. For they are 
frail, prejudiced mortals like yourselves. And with 
all their superior advantages for the acquisition of 
wisdom and goodness, they are still liable to errors, 
imperfections and sins. But were their plain prac- 
tical instructions more implicitly and universally fol- 
lowed, there would be less vice and more of the 
blessed fruits of the gospel. And there can be no 
doubt that every preacher gives to his hearers mani- 
fold more rules for the regulation of every affection 
and action than are ever followed by the best of chris- 
tians. If then the blame be not in Christianity itself, 
nor particularly in its public teachers, that so few of 
its genuine fruits are seen, will it not be found to 
rest in a great degree on those who hear the gospel 
preached ? Are there not many in all our religious 



49 

societies who are hearers only and not doers of the 
word ? 

1 . Is it not a fact, that a portion of almost every 
christian assembly may be properly denominated in- 
attentive hearers ? 1 mean hearers who are almost 
wholly inattentive to the religious exercises of the 
sanctuary. They may exhibit a correct behavior 
while at church, but their minds for the most part 
are employed on vain and frivolous and earthly sub- 
jects ; recalling past transactions, conversing with 
distant acquaintances, and imagining scenes of future 
interest and enjoyment ; wandering through creation, 
any where and every where except on those instruc- 
tions so essential to their soul's best welfare, and 
on that being for whose worship they have assem- 
bled. And if questioned respecting the solemn ser- 
vices, though they may be able to tell you how many 
interesting fictitious scenes were recalled, how ma- 
ny hours of mirth and gaiety were lived over again, 
how many plans were invented for securing earthly 
happiness, increasing wealth and obtaining influence 
and distinction, yet they can give you but a very im«* 
perfect account of the topics of devotion, or the 
sentiments of discourse, or the instructions of scrip- 
ture. And thus inattentive do they often continue, 
Sunday after Sunday, and even year after year, until 
some calamity disturbs their spiritual slumbers, and 
arouses their attention to the all-important con- 
cerns of religion. 

2. Is it not also a fact, that another part of many 
congregations may justly be called inconsiderate 



50 

hearers ? I mean hearers who do not give the sub- 
ject of religion a serious consideration. They may 
give proper attention to the duties of the church, 
and remember much of the instructions. They may 
delight in commending and communicating the ex- 
cellences of the performances, and exhibit a deep 
interest in the prevalence of correct religious views. 
They may consider religion a very good thing for 
society in general. But they do not seem to regard 
its instructions as having any application to them- 
selves in particular, do not acknowledge its claims 
on their own heart and life, do not realize that each 
one is accountable for himself to God, who will ren- 
der unto every man according to his deeds, do not 
feel themselves any farther interested in the public 
exercises of the church than to be amused or en- 
tertained or pleasantly excited, and thus inconsider- 
ate as they often remain, until some alarming provi- 
dence turns their thoughts to the momentous con- 
cerns of their immortal welfare. 

3. Is it not likewise a fact, that another part of some 
christian societies consists of critical hearers ? I 
mean hearers who assemble at church, not to wor- 
ship the Parent of the universe, not to hear the im- 
portant truths of the gospel explained and defended 
and enforced, not to obtain moral and religious in- 
struction, not to have their good resolutions confirm- 
ed, their hearts made better and their whole charac- 
ters improved ; but principally to gratify a love for 
criticism, to hear fine writing and eloquent speaking, 
to have the fancy amused and the imagination de- 



51 

lighted, to acquire materials for conversation and the 
display of their colloquial talent. They afterward find 
sufficient employment in commenting on the various 
discourses which they have heard. For instance, 
such a word was too common and such a sentence 
was not sufficiently rounded, such a part was com- 
mon place and such a part superfluous, here was an 
attempt to dash and there was a specimen of the 
bathos, there a paragraph should have been added 
and here a particular doctrine introduced, here was 
a head too liberal in sentiment and there one too 
orthodox, this reproof was applicable to my friend 
on the right and that to my neighbor on the left; 
and in this hypercritical way, they unsettle the 
minds and excite the prejudices of honest hearers, 
injure the minister's usefulness, and obtain no benefit 
to themselves. 

4. Is it not further a fact, that another portion of 
some congregations may be distinguished as preju- 
diced hearers ? I mean hearers who are so strongly 
prejudiced against those ministers w T hose voice and 
manner and style do not suit their taste, that they 
cannot be benefited by their services ? Just -as if 
one man could so think and write and speak and 
look, as to please the varying fancies of a whole 
congregation. Or hearers who are so strongly pre- 
judiced against other christian sects, that they can- 
not be instructed or edified when they happen to 
suspect the preacher is not of their own party. 
They are not only so strongly prejudiced, as to in- 
capacitate their minds for any free and impartial ex- 



52 

I 

amination, but they are too apt to try 'he sentiments 

advanced, not by the' infallible stan lard of truth, 
but by their own preconceived view s, their inter- 
pretations of scripture, the unscrip aral creeds of 
their party, and it often seems a matter of little 
or no consequence with them, wh :thejr their party 
belief can be expressed in scrip aral language, or 
only in terms of human invention; whether it has 
been drawn unpolluted from the pure fountain of 
salvation, or received thro; gh the muddy channels 
of some party commer/dtors ; whether its natural 
tendency be to mere, .se exertion and produce holi- 
ness of heart and '.Te, or to paralize all human ef- 
forts and lull tc sleep the guilty conscience. Should 
the preachir^ of the heavenly Jesus, his sermon on 
the moij^ nay every sentiment be uttered be tried 
by soJre party standards, I fear it would be found 
wanimg. I suspect it would be called moral preach- 
in; . It might be called good so far as it went, but 
i 'would not go far enough for these prejudiced dis- 
ciples. It would not contain what they call the 
great and essential doctrines of grace. What ! the 
instructions of Jesus not contain the essence of the 
gospel? Would such hearers of all sects listen with 
more candor, and imitate the noble example of the 
Bereans, we should not hear so many christians de- 
nounced as unconverted and unbelievers. 

5. Finally is it not a fact, that some part of almost 
every congregation may be styled waiting hearers ? 
I mean hearers who are waiting for a more conve- 
nient season before they begin the work of reforma- 



53 

tion and improvement ; or hearers who have unfor- 
tunately imbibed the false sentiment that they must 
wait patiently for the Lord to convert them. Hence 
they forbear commencing a religious course, lest 
they should be guilty of taking God's work out of 
his hands, or for fear they might go about to estab- 
lish a righteousness of their own. Consequently 
they are waiting in expectation that God in his own 
good time will instantaneously work a miraculous 
change on their hearts. Do such hearers realize 
that the false and pernicious sentiment on which 
they are resting the welfare of their immortal souls 
has no foundation in scripture ? That assistance is 
promised to those and those only who ask, seek, 
strive ? Whilst a tremendous punishment is threat- 
ened against those who neglect or misimprove their 
privileges and talents ? Does not observation teach 
them that religious lives are not ordinarily commenc- 
ed by a sudden and powerful excitement of mind? 
And that those who have waited for this excitement, 
have waited until their doom was sealed by death, 
and their impenitent souls hastened into the presence 
of a pure and holy God ? 

Now, my friends, after deducting the various 
classes who are hearers only, how large a proportion 
will remain who are sincerely endeavoring to be 
doers as well as hearers ? How large a number will 
be left, who take an open and decided stand on 
christian ground ? How many who make religion 
a serious and constant concern ? In short, bow 
many who habitually strive to obey the commands, 
6 



54 

imitate the example and exhibit the spirit of Christ 
Jesus? The number, you will all admit, is not so 
great as could be wished ; is not so great but it may 
be increased. And one principal reason why it is 
not greater, as I have attempted to prove, is because 
so many who hear the word are not doers. Wheth- 
er there be few or many of this number present, 
you will permit me to urge upon your attention the 
apostolic exhortation. Be ye doers of the word, 
and not hearers only, deceiving your ownselves. 

Yes ; if there be any present who are hearers and 
not doers of the word, suffer mo to assure you, that 
you are deceiving yourselves. Ye are deceiving 
yourselves in regard to the object and the reward of 
your attendance on religious instructions. And what 
are these ? Is not the object of attending church to 
receive assistance in becoming wise and good ? And 
is not the reward of wisdom and goodness, present 
and future happiness ? Should ye not attend then 
to have all the duties you owe yourselves, your fel- 
low men, your anointed Saviour, your heavenly 
Father, made plain before you ? so that by a faith- 
ful discharge of them ye may secure the approba- 
tion of your own conscience, the love of the wise 
and good, and the present and future blessings of 
your all-perfect Creator. Should ye not attend to 
have all your transgressions set in array before you ? 
so that by seeing the wickedness of your doings 
ye may be excited to reform every evil and false 
way ? Should ye not attend to hear of the Saviour 
Jesus, to hear his wearisome labors described, so 



55 

that ye may never become weary in well doing ? 
to hear his example illustrated, so that ye may have 
a perfect pattern for all your conduct? to hear his 
sufferings and death proclaimed, so that ye may 
know the price of your redemption, and thus be 
moved to penitence and gratitude and obedience ? 
to hear his resurrection declared, so that ye may 
feel assured of meeting all the ransomed of the Lord 
in a better world? Should ye not attend to have 
inspired in your bosom a love and delight in the 
worship of the most high God, so that when ye leave 
this world, you may depart in peace and be prepared 
to unite in the purer worship of the heavenly host ? 
Now if you do not accomplish these objects by your 
attendance; if you do not increase in wisdom and 
goodness and happiness, do you not deceive your- 
selves in regard to the object of your attendance ? 
Do you not lose the reward of your labor ? Most 
certainly. 

Not only so. Such deception is the worst of all 
deceptions. For it is self deception, and for its at- 
tendent consequences ye can blame none but your- 
selves. Can the traveller who disregards proper di- 
rections, and follows the suggestion of his own incli- 
nations, justly blame any but himself, should disas- 
ters befall him in his wrong but chosen course ? And 
can ye who come up hither to inquire the way to 
happiness and heaven, justly blame any but your- 
selves, when your deliberate disobedience to the 
divine commands and your willing submission to 
earthborn propensities, are attended with pain and 



56 

remorse and selfcondemnation ? Can the patient 
who knowingly deviates from the prescriptions of 
his physician and blindly follows the errors of his 
own ignorance, justly blame any but himself for the 
pernicious consequences of his wilful deviations ? 
And can ye who present yourselves here to inquire 
of Jesus, the great moral physician, what must be 
done for your soul's salvation, justly blame any but 
yourselves, if your souls are not saved, so long as 
ye do not comply with his divine prescriptions ? 
Can the mariner who neglects his compass and chart, 
justly blame any but himself for the sad calamity of 
shipwreck? And have you not the gospel, as a 
compass and chart, to guide you safely to the haven 
of eternal rest ? And if you neglect to consult and 
follow its unerring directions, can you justly blame 
any but yourselves, should your hopes of pure and 
permanent happiness be wrecked on the rocks of sin ? 
But this is not all. This is not only the worst of 
all deceptions, but it is deception on the most im- 
portant of all subjects. What concern so important 
as the happiness or misery of the never dying soul ? 
And what deception so awful as that which deprives 
us of present and future felicity ? Ye may be de- 
ceived for a season in your worldly expectations ? 
But this is comparatively nothing. For time and 
patience and persevering exertion may produce a 
remedy. The husbandman may plant and till his 
ground with the sure expectation of a joyful harvest. 
The drought may wither, and the mildew blight, and 
the frost destroy the fruits of the earth, and thus de- 



57 

ceive his expectations. But another spring shall 
return, and another seed time be his, and a more 
abundant harvest shall spread the veil of forgetful- 
ness over his former disappointment. The merchant 
may fill his storehouse with goods and expect an in- 
crease of wealth from his merchandize. The moth 
may eat, and the rust corrupt, and the theives steal, 
and the fire destroy his treasures, and thus deceive his 
expectations. But industry and economy may sup- 
ply his losses, and thus his deception find a reme- 
dy. But if ye live in expectation of receiving the 
rewards of the gospel, merely because ye hear the 
gospel preached, ye are greatly deceived, and for 
your deception there is no remedy. No, none. 
For every day of your life which sin renders mis- 
erable, is a day gone, never to be recalled, and there 
is no remedy for past suffering. And when brought 
upon the bed of death, every regret you feel for past 
neglect of duty, every sting of conscience you shall 
experience for sins committed, every fearful forbod- 
ing of the future which shall harrow up the very 
secrets of your soul, will be the natural consequen- 
ces of your irreligious course, the bitter fruit of your 
selfdeception. And for all this misery there can be 
no remedy, for your days will be numbered and 
finished, and no space will remain for reformation. 
And if you leave this world impure and unreformed, 
how can you be qualified for the duties and plea- 
sures of heaven ? Must not a remembrance of your 
past ingratitude and disobedience fill your soul with 
horror and remorse ? And how can you delight in 
6* 



58 

the love and worship of that God whom you have 
never really loved and worshipped while on earth ? 
How can you enter the presence of that Saviour 
whom you. have slighted and neglected, and perhaps 
crucified afresh hy your wicked deeds ? And how 
can you enjoy the society of those pure spirits whose 
powers are devoted to the honor of their Saviour 
and their Father ? It cannot be. O be not deceiv- 
ed. Remember that he that who doeth righteous- 
ness is righteous, and he alone. And if any of you 
have hitherto been hearers only, and not doers of the 
word, let it be so no longer. Let the recording 
angel now write the sincere determination of your 
hearts, that you will endeavor to obey all the chris- 
tian precepts. And let me tell you, that in keep- 
ing of them there is great reward ; reward in life, 
reward in death, reward glorious and immortal in the 
world to come. Be ye all therefore doers of the 
world as well as hearers, that ye may be blessed is 
your deeds. 



SERMON V. 

HOW TO MAKE RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS PRO- 
DUCTIVE OF GOOD FRUITS. 

HOSEA VI. 4. YOUR GOODNESS IS AS A MORNING CLOUD, AND 
AS THE EARLY DEW IT GOETH AWAY. 

We frequently receive good impressions from 
religious instruction. We are convinced of the im- 
portance of personal holiness. We become deeply 
interested in the welfare of our souls. We admit 
that our characters need improvement. We secretly 
resolve upon reformation. Those of us who think 
ourselves christians, resolve to become better ; and 
those of us who think we have not yet begun the 
christian life, resolve to delay no longer. But when 
the Sunday is passed, and we again become en- 
grossed in the cares of this world, our good resolu- 
tions are often forgotten or broken. Our serious 
impressions are effaced from our hearts. Our good- 
ness becomes as the morning cloud and vanishes 
away as the early dew. And how can we remedy 
this common and dangerous evil ? What methods 
can we adopt to render our religious impressions 
more productive of good fruits ? In answer to this 
question I will suggest a few hints. 



60 

1. We must cherish our good impressions. We 
must often call to mind the instructions which awak- 
ened our attention, which excited our feelings, which 
warmed our hearts, which inspired our resolutions, 
until they become indelibly impressed upon our 
memories. When the hour of retirement and rest 
arrives, we must call them to remembrance, and 
ponder them in our thoughts, and prayerfully seek 
the assistance and blessing of our heavenly Father. 
And when the morning light calls us to the active 
duties of life, we must again bring them to our re- 
collection, and bestow upon them serious meditation, 
and once more seek for spiritual aid. But we must 
not stop here. During the labors and leisure of the 
day, we must again revolve them in our minds un- 
til they become ingrained in our very souls, a part 
of our very selves, governing principles of our con- 
duct. By such repeated and prayerful reflection, 
we may prevent the sentiments received, the sensa- 
tions produced, the thoughts excited and the resolu- 
tions formed from vanishing away as the morning 
cloud. 

2. Our good impressions must not only be cher- 
ished seriously and earnestly and perseveringly ; but 
they must lead to the formation of strong particular 
resolutions. If we merely resolve to be good in 
general, our resolutions will yield but little fruit. 
We must distinguish in our own thoughts, the par- 
ticular failings we ought to forsake, the particular du- 
ties we ought to practice, the particular virtues we 
ought to acquire. We must resolve to be wholly 



61 

good, not partially so ; good in all particulars, not in 
a few. We must resolve to be practical christians, 
in our belief, in our motives, in our feelings, in our 
dispositions, in our conversation and in our actions ; 
in our reverence and imitation of our Saviour, and 
in our supreme love and unreserved obedience to 
our heavenly Father. In short, we must determine to 
examine impartially and fearlessly into the state of 
our hearts and characters ; to compare ourselves 
candidly and faithfully with the requisitions of the 
gospel ; to forsake every thing wrong in our princi- 
ples, sentiments, tempers and conduct, and to per- 
form habitually and perseveringly the incumbent du- 
ties of our several situations and relations. By thus 
fixing our thoughts on definite objects, we shall pre- 
vent our impressions, wishes and resolutions from 
departing as the early dew. 

3. We must not only cherish our good impres- 
sions, and cause them to produce the formation of 
particular resolutions ; but we must take the proper 
measures for carrying our good resolutions into im- 
mediate execution. For all our serious impressions, 
all our good resolutions, and all our knowledge of 
ourselves and of the requisitions of Jesus will be of 
no avail, unless we proceed to bring forth christian 
fruits. If we are faithful to ourselves, our work, our 
building up a christian character, will be constantly 
going forward. For we shall endeavor to regulate 
our thoughts, tempers, conversation and conduct, 
according to the laws of reason, conscience and re- 
velation. And this is the sum and substance of all 



62 

religion ; and as we are ever thinking, conversing 
or acting during our waking hours, our habits of 
thought, feeling, conversation and action, may be 
daily improving. These habits will constitute our 
characters. But these we can never greatly im- 
prove without firm resolution and unwearied exer- 
tions. Let me then illustrate this great work of 
salvation by a few examples, and show how our good 
impressions may lead to christian reformation and 
improvement. 

Suppose then I have omitted the duty of secret 
prayer, and became seriously impressed with its im- 
portance. My impressions will become deepened 
by reflection, and lead me to resolve upon the com- 
mencement of the neglected practice. Having no- 
ticed the plain command of my Saviour on this sub- 
ject, I shall seek for motives to aid me in its proper 
and habitual performance. Convinced that my Fath- 
er is love and that he is ever ready to hear the de- 
votions of his sincere worshippers, I shall raise my 
thoughts to him in secret prayer ; not occasionally, 
when reminded of my dependence and obligations 
by some favor ; but daily, at evening and in the 
morning. And the more I consider the blessings I 
am daily receiving and the resolutions I am daily 
forming, the more I consider the hopes I am daily 
cherishing and the support I am daily needing, the 
more I consider the laws I am daily violating and the 
sins I am daily committing, the more materials shall I 
have for my daily thanksgivings and petitions, con- 
fessions and devotions. Realizing that prayer is not 



63 

only a duty, but a privilege ; a duty which will as- 
sist in purifying my heart, and in increasing my love 
for my maker, and in making me more faithful in 
all my engagements ; and also a privilege which 
should increase my gratitude and confidence and 
obedience, I shall persevere in the devout exercise. 
I shall not permit rny devotions to be interrupted by 
any labor or fatigue or disinclination or pleasure. I 
shall not release my exertions, until the habit is so 
thoroughty fixed as to become a natural and even 
necessary part of my daily happiness. And then no 
efforts will be needed, for the habitual performance 
of the duty will become a source of felicity from 
which I could not readily refrain. In this- way and 
in no other can I become a fervent worshipper of 
my heavenly Father, and establish the habit of se- 
cret devotion. For these means and exertions and 
reflections are absolutely necessary ; and without 
these all the good impressions in creation will yield 
no christian fruit. 

Suppose also you had neglected to love your 
neighbor as yourself, and become impressed with 
the importance of this duty. Your impression will 
lead to the formation of resolutions, and your reso- 
lutions will influence you to use the requisite means 
and exertions. You will first endeavor to realize 
that your fellow men are your brethren, offspring of 
the same parent, entitled to equal rights and privi- 
leges and hopes, and exposed to similar trials and 
infirmities and afflictions. When fully persuaded of 
these things, you will feel convinced that it is not 



64 

only your duty but truest interest to love your neigh- 
bor as yourself, and ever to do unto him as you 
would have him do unto you. This conviction will 
influence you to banish from your heart all prejudice, 
ill will and hatred. Whenever you discover in your 
bosom any thoughts unfriendly to any person, you 
will immediately endeavor to learn the cause of their 
existence. If they arise from envy or jealousy or 
pride, as these are the most fruitful sources of inimi- 
cal feelings, you will blame yourself; and you will 
spare no pains until you have banished such tor- 
menting fiends from your mind, and given residence 
to the peaceful guests of meekness, humility and 
benevolence. But if upon proper inspection, you 
think your enmity has been excited by injuries re- 
ceived, you will still remember that you are a disci- 
ple of the forgiving Jesus, who has commanded you 
to love your enemies. You will therefore endeavor 
to obey your divine master, and banish from your 
breast all anger and resentment so as not to punish 
yourself for the iniquities of others. But this will 
not prevent you from honorably maintaining your 
rights, or openly acquainting a person with his folly 
or his iniquity. In this way you may bring your 
thoughts and feelings into subjection to the \qw of 
love. 

Your convesartion will require your next atten- 
tion. And whenever you detect yourself uttering the 
language of scandal, detraction, slander or unchari- 
tableness, you will pause ; and you will inquire of 
your own breast whether you are acquainted with 



65 

all the circumstances of the case, whether you 
have heard both sides of the question, whether you 
are influenced by a desire to do good in your com- 
munication, whether you are relating the whole 
truth -and nothing but the truth, whether there are 
not some traits in your own character, some events 
of your own life, some unguarded expressions of 
your own lips which might be so magnified and 
misrepresented as greatly to injure your happiness 
and usefulness. By such inquiries, your resolution 
to be guarded in your observations, candid in your 
opinions, and charitable in your judgments will be 
formed and strengthened into a habit. But this is 
not all, for love to your neighbor implies more than 
merely abstaining from injuring his feelings, influ- 
ence, property or character. It also requires you 
to do good unto all men as you have opportunity, 
and this part of the duty must likewise be confirmed 
by habits ; habits of assisting the indigent, relieving the 
distressed, enlightening the ignorant, reclaiming the 
vicious, visiting the sick and sorrowful and being 
ready for every good word and work. In this way 
and in no other can you acquire the benevolent dis- 
position of loving your neighbor as yourself. For 
without these persevering endeavors, all your seri- 
ous impressions will avail nothing. 

The same course must be pursued in obeying 
any particular command when the formation of 
a habit is not required. Take the dying request of 
our Saviour. A person feels convinced of the truth 
of the christian religion. He believes that Jesus is 
7 



66 

the true Messiah. He knows that obedience to his 
commands is necessary to prove the sincerity of his 
faith. He realizes that he is as well qualified for 
the performance of one duty as another ; that he is 
as well qualified to partake of the Lord's supper as to 
unite in the public devotions. He is seriously im- 
pressed, with a desire to commemorate the dying 
love of his chosen Master. If then he would have 
his impressions productive of obedience, they must 
be fervently cherished, they must lead to the forma- 
tion of strong resolutions, and his resolutions must 
induce him to overcome his doubts, his fears, his 
indolence and his timidity, and excite him to come 
forward as a professed follower of the once crucified 
Jesus. This act of obedience will be the fruit of 
his impressions. But had he banished them from 
his mind, or suffered them to evaporate as the early 
dew, he might have continued year after year in 
a state of uneasiness, indecision, desire and anxiety ; 
and after all, perhaps have been called to the bar of 
God without having had sufficient resolution to com- 
ply with the last request of his ascended Lord. 

Thus, my friends, have I endeavored to exhibit to 
you the methods by which we can make our reli- 
gious impressions of each returning sabbath more 
productive of good fruits. In all this there is noth- 
ing unintelligible or impracticable. There is noth- 
ing but what you all need and at times desire. There 
is nothing but what you may all accomplish by res- 
olute and persevering exertions. And if you have 
any proper concern for the salvation of your pre- 



67 

cious souls, if you would act like rational beings in 
the great business of religious improvement, if you 
would secure the appropriate reward of attendance 
on public worship, if you would exhibit a praise- 
worthy example before your associates, if you would 
manifest becoming gratitude to your Saviour and 
your Father, you will not permit these practical hints 
to vanish as the early dew before the rising sun. 
No ; you will now and ever cherish all serious im- 
pressions, and you will forthwith proceed to form 
strong particular resolutions, and you will instant- 
ly take the necessary measures to reduce them 
to practice, so that you may always grow in grace 
and in the knowledge of your Lord and Saviour. 



SERMON VI. 



NO ESCAPE FROM THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN 
IN REFORMATION. 



NUMBERS XXXII. 23. BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT. 

There is a moral distinction in actions. Some 
are righteous and some are wicked. Virtue and 
vice are not unmeaning names. They are realities. 
They are distinct and unalterable in their nature. 
And no false reasoning can ever make holiness sin 
or sin holiness. This distinction we all feel and un 
derstand. For whatever may be our own character, 
we approve of goodness whenever exhibited in oth- 
ers. And we as readily disapprove of iniquity 
whenever and wherever manifested. This distinc- 
tion is also known and felt in a greater or less de- 
gree by all persons in all countries. Go to the 
most uncivilized people on the face of the globe ; 
tell them some actions are bad and some are good, 
and you will communicate no information ; for they 
are already acquainted with this natural, simple uni- 
versal truth. Go even to the French atheists of the 
former revolution. They decreed that all actions 
were alike, that the bible was a fable, that death 
was an eternal sleep, and that there was no God, 



69 

But in thejiour of honesty, in the hour of death, many 
of them recanted their pernicious errors, and bore 
undisguised testimony to the unchangeable distinction 
between right and wrong; a distinction so deep- 
ly impressed upon the heart of man, that it cannot 
be effaced either by ignorance or error or infidelity or 
depravity. As well may you attempt to blot the sun 
from the firmament of heaven as hope to eradicate 
from the human soul this eternal distinction between 
sin and holiness. 

Not only so. Sin must inevitably punish the sin- 
ner. For you well know that it is direGtly contra- 
ry to the nature of holiness. If so, it must be di- 
rectly contrary to the nature of a holy God. Con- 
sequently it must be directly opposed to that spirit 
in man which proceeds from the inspiration of the 
Almighty. Now if this reasoning be correct, if 
sin is thus contrary to the rational nature of man, 
of moral and spiritual goodness, "and of the perfect 
and infinite Deity, then it must surely be contrary to 
the very nature of pure mental happiness. For 
God is perfectly happy only because he is perfect- 
ly holy. The degree of angelic happiness must 
be exactly proportioned to their sinless perfections. 
And the true felicity of the human soul, both for 
time and eternity, must depend on its moral good- 
ness. And this consequence is as natural and inevita- 
ble as that fire should produce heat, or poison pro- 
duce sickness. Yes. And the illustration from poi- 
son is not inappropriate to this part of the subject. 
For sin is the same to the soul as poison is to the 
7* 



70 

body. Take poison and you injure or destroy your 
health. Commit sin and you injure or destroy your 
soul's happiness. Expel the poison and you regain 
your health, although your constitution will be in- 
jured in proportion to the quantity taken and the 
time it is retained in the system. Forsake sin and 
you regain your happiness, although your soul will be 
injured in proportion to the degree and duration of 
your depravity. Until you expel the poison, you 
cannot regain your health. And until you forsake 
your sinfulness, you cannot secure rational and spir- 
itual happiness. For so sure as you commit sin, 
so sure will your sin find you out, in some way or 
other, sooner or later, in this world or the next. 

But this is not all the evidence. Look into the 
world and you may see the truth of my position 
completely demonstrated. I would not indeed inti- 
mate that sin is always punished or fully punished on 
earth, but that it is commonly and severely punished 
even in this world. Select an example of the slight- 
est degree of sinfulness. Take the merely worldly 
minded man, who is not openly immoral, but who 
never thinks seriously of God or eternity ; who ne- 
glects the peculiar requisitions of the gospel, and 
whose life is regulated by the motives of selfishness, 
popularity, fashion, expediency, interest. Such an 
one constantly feels an aching void which no earth- 
ly good can ever supply. He is occasionally re- 
proached by an accusing conscience for his sins of 
omission and commission. He deprives himself of 
the rich satisfactions which arise from christian dis-. 



71 

positions, habits, hopes and consolations. And when 
disappointment or sickness or affliction come upon 
him, he is wholly unprepared for their occurrence; 
and consequently they cause him much anxiety 
and vexation and fear and remorse. And in these 
several ways his sin of worldliness finds him out, to 
make no mention of an unhappy death and the want of 
a scriptural preparation for eternity. Take next an 
instance of open immorality. Notice the man of 
intemperance. His unlawful indulgence causes im- 
mediate pain and not unfrequently sickness. The 
seeds of various disorders soon take deep root and 
undermine the constitution. The balance of temper 
is destroyed. The tender sympathies of the soul 
are perverted. The benevolent affections of the 
heart are brutalized. The moral powers are ren- 
dered insensible to good impressions. The intel- 
lectual faculties are enervated and shattered. 
Property is dissipated, family and friends are dis- 
graced, and the order of social life is disturbed. 
Add to all this, the distressing reflections on the 
past, the inefficient and broken resolutions of the 
present, the dismal forebodings of the future, and 
what earthly punishment more severe need be im- 
agined. Does not his sin of intemperance find him 
out most effectually, to make no allusion to the 
future condemnation which awaits him in another 
existence ? Take finally an example of the highest 
degree of depravity ; that which leads to the most 
inhuman crimes ; such as robbery and murder. 
Probably as many as nine in ten who are guilty of 



72 

such desperate sins are sooner or later detected, and 
compelled to finish their career of wickedness on the 
gallows. Behold the late Salem criminals, and 
mark the unexpected means by which their infer- 
nal deeds were brought to light. Especially ob- 
serve, that when the principal agent in this horrid 
transaction had received the life warrant of the gov- 
ernment, and to human apprehension his safety was 
morally certain, providence so ordered events that 
an ignominious death became his portion. But 
should one of this class occasionally escape the de- 
tection of his fellow-men, he cannot escape from his 
own reflections nor from the ever watchful eye of an 
omniscient God. He must carry a tormentor in his 
own bosom, an undying worm gnawing incessantly at 
the very core of his heart, an accusing conscience 
which in some instances has driven the haunted 
wretch to make confession of his bloody deed, and 
has pursued others with its tormenting stings even to 
self destruction. And thus their sins found them 
out, in some way or other, sooner or later, in this 
world or the next. 

Now you all admit that some actions are righte- 
ous and some are wicked. You also acknowledge 
that sin will inevitably produce misery, and holiness 
as surely produce happiness. Why then do any of 
you knowingly commit iniquity and neglect to per- 
form all your incumbent duties? Why do so many 
depart from the path of rectitude and walk id the 
ways of transgression ? I will tell you ; because sin 
is deceitful. Yes. Sin is almost infinitely deceitful. 



73 

You can scarcely imagine the number of forms she 
assumes and the multiplicity of temptations she pre- 
sents. Select the common career of the gamester for 
an illustration. He sits down to the gaming table 
perhaps without any intention of injuring either him- 
self or others. He may win or he may lose. If he 
loses, his mortification induces him to make a se- 
cond attempt. If he wins, the desire of gain stim- 
ulates him to perseverance in the dangerous course. 
In either case therefore he is under the strongest 
temptation to continue in the bewitching vice. And 
in this way many are led on from one step to another, 
until habits of defrauding, falsehood, profaneness, 
quarrelling and other kindred vices become thorough- 
y confirmed. Such is the common and natural pro- 
gress of every sinner. One slight deviation from 
known duty is permitted and then another. Each 
step is but short and the deluded victim is scarcely 
aware that he is pursuing the road to infamy and 
wretchedness. For at the outset, no one intends 
to do any thing very wrong. No one determines to 
commit any very aggravated transgression. No one 
means to injure either his own happiness or that of 
others. And if you tell one of this class of the dan- 
gers of his course ; if you show him the natural con- 
sequences of his downward walk ; if you set be- 
fore him the melancholy end at which he must 
sooner or later arrive unless checked in his mad 
career; if you intrude upon his attention a friendly 
warning, you are almost sure to give offence and not 
unfrequently the greatest possible offence. For he 



14 

is not conscious of intending any such thing. Nay, 
he intends soon to return to the flowery paths of vir- 
tue, and eventually to acquire the highest degree of 
christian excellence. But still he walks heedlessly 
along, and consequently habits of sin begin and con- 
tinue to form, gradually and almost imperceptibly, 
until he becomes enslaved to the worst of tyrants, 
the most cruel of taskmasters. Thus deceitful is sin, 
and in this way it ruins its thousands and its tens of 
thousands. And against its insidious attacks, its in- 
sinuating solicitations, its treacherous wiles, you have 
no security but in christian principle. For if you 
are actuated by the motives of the gospel, you will 
conscientiously endeavor to know the right in every 
thing and to pursue it with unwavering perseverance. 
You will be no less solicitous to discover the wrong, 
and to shun it with a holy watchfulness. For you 
will never forget the unchangeable degree of the Al- 
mighty, that holiness shall reward the righteous, and 
that sin shall find out the sinner, in some way or 
other, sooner or later, in this world or the next. 

In view of these all important truths, these incon- 
trovertible truths, permit me my friends, and espe- 
cially my young friends, to speak the word of ex- 
hortation. 

Beware of exposing yourself to temptation. 
Would you breathe the infected atmosphere and 
hope to escape the plague ? Would you visit the 
lion's den and expect to elude his iron grasp ? Go 
not then in the way of temptation. For you know 
not its mighty power. You are ignorant of its in- 



75 

sinuating and deceitful nature. You are not fully 
sensible of your own weakness. And so sure as 
you expose yourself to its assaults, so sure are you 
in danger, in the greatest possible danger. For 
many have fallen where few have come off victori- 
ous. Be therefore ever on your guard. For when 
you associate with the thoughtless and unprincipled, 
and passion becomes excited, and imagination heat- 
ed, and judgment overpowered by feeling ; and 
when temptation assumes the mask of interest or 
pleasure or friendship or love, all your good resolu- 
tions which are not based on religious principle will 
vanish like mist before the rising sun. Think not 
that I utter these plain truths to give you pain. 
Think not that I wish to spread a gloom over the 
innocent pleasures of life. No. Nothing but a regard 
to your happiness could induce me to dwell on such 
unpleasant topics. But I wish to warn you of the 
dangers to which the young are peculiarly exposed. 
I wish to set fairly before you that monster sin ; 
your soul's worst, your soul's eternal enemy ; the on- 
ly enemy in the whole universe of God which you 
have the least occasion to fear. Let your very 
thoughts then dwell on images of purity and inno- 
cence and goodness. Let your leisure hours be de- 
voted to healthful exercise, and profitable reading, 
and serious meditation. Let your associates be per- 
sons of unshaken integrity, uncorrupted morals and 
instructive conversation. Let your aim in life be 
elevated, and in whatever pursuit you engage, seek 
for eminence by persevering industry and unweari- 



76 

ed application. Especially strive for the greatest 
perfection in every thing christian. And ever 
avoid as you would shun the very brink of the roar- 
ing cataract, every species of exposure to tempta- 
tion. 

Not only so. Beware of the first deliberate step 
in the path of iniquity. Can you play with the very 
lightnings of heaven and not be scathed? Can 
you swallow the deadly poison and remain uninjur- 
ed ? Neither can you commit sin and escape its 
punishment. The fatal results of one guilty step no 
one can foretell. The first act of open wickedness 
once committed and others readily follow. The 
restraints of virtue once wantonly broken and the 
flood gates of depravity will be thrown open. Once 
embarked on the sea of iniquity and you know not 
where you will land. You will be exposed to all the 
gusts of passion and sensuality, without rudder or 
compass ; and shipwreck, perhaps fatal shipwreck, 
will be the consequence ; for the greatest crimes 
have proceeded from the smallest beginnings. Read 
the history of those who have terminated their sin- 
ful course on the gallows. Your only security 
therefore consists in a rigid adherence to the path of 
rectitude. If you step aside to pluck even one 
guilty flower, you will assuredly be stung by one 
tormenting thorn. And be not so unwise as to sup- 
pose you can return after a limited indulgence. So 
have thought thousands, and their self-confidence 
has proved their ruin. Tamper not then in the 
least with the deadly foe. If you do, you tamper 



77 

with your soul's best happiness ; nay, you tamper 
with your soul's eternal felicity. For the distinction 
between right and wrong is unalterable and ever- 
lasting. The right you may always know. For 
your common sense, your christian education, your 
Sunday instructions, your anxious friends, your holy 
bible, will always teach you the way of goodness 
and enjoyment. Listen then to these monitors. 
And ever avoid the first guilty step, as you would 
shun the crater of the burning volcano. 

But this is not all. Beware of the second step 
in the path of wickedness. Allowance may be 
made for one deviation. You may be tempted by 
interest. You may be enticed by pleasure. You 
may be blinded by passion. You may be deceived 
by falsehood. You may be overpowered by sudden 
temptation. And in some one or more of these 
ways you may become involved in guilt. Beit you 
will then be sensible of your sinfulness. For you 
will then experience the reproaches of an accusing 
conscience. And then is the moment to resolve on 
reformation. For the work of amendment will then 
be plain and easy. Return then to goodness. 
Take not a second step more sinful to hide the dis- 
grace of the first. Because you have uttered one 
falsehood, tell. not twenty more to conceal your ini- 
quity. Because you have once yielded to the pow- 
er of intoxicating liquor, make not a beast of your- 
self to drown your painful reflections. Because you 
have stolen your neighbor's purse, take not his life to 
prevent detection. Whatever sin you may have 



78 

committed, commit not a second to cover its deform- 
ity. For this can never be done. This will al- 
ways make matters worse. This will always in- 
crease your guilt and wretchedness. There is no 
safe way but to return. When convinced of any 
failing then, have principle enough to reform. And 
if you have injured either your own character or the 
reputation and happiness of others, do all in your 
power to repair the injury. You will then be restor- 
ed to the favor of yourself, to the approbation of 
your own conscience. You will be restored to the 
confidence of the public, for they wish nothing but 
satisfactory evidence of reformation. You will be 
restored to the love of God, for he is ever ready to 
meet the returning penitent a great way off, and 
welcome him to his bosom and purified family. And 
unless this course is pursued, your guilt will increase. 
Yes. When made sensible of your sins, if you 
have not principle enough to reform, your guilt must 
increase. For a second step will be taken and then 
a third, and so on ; and at each step, you will plunge 
creeper and deeper in iniquity and sink lower and 
lower in degradation, until you become thoroughly 
abandoned. Avoid the second deliberate step in 
the path of wickedness, as you would shun the very 
jaws of hell. 

Yes, my young friends, you may lay it down as 
an incontrovertible, unchangeable, eternal truth, that 
so sure as you commit sin, so sure will your sin 
find you out. You may commit sin with the expec- 
tation of escaping its punishment. You may employ 



79 

the darkness of night and the secrecy of the grave 
to conceal your iniquity. And for a time you may 
elude the detection of your fellow mortals. But 
when you are least aware, some event may occur, 
some circumstance may arise, which shall reveal 
your disgrace and your infamy to the world. You 
may commit sin. You may conceal it from every 
human being but yourself. Your labors may be 
crowned with success. The voice of gladness may 
be heard in your dwelling. The world may* lay 
her riches and her honors at your feet. But with 
all that time has to offer, you will still be miserable. 
For your wickedness will have left a corroding dis- 
ease on your very soul. And you will have a hell 
within your own bosom, which no earthly offerings 
can ever quench. You may commit sin. You may 
affirm that all actions are alike. You may ridicule 
religion, and scoff at all sacred things. You may 
plunge into the very vortex of dissipation, and pass 
along the briery road of transgression until arrested 
by the summons of death. But his cold hand will 
dissipate the mists of infidelity and depravity. A 
knowledge of your desperate wickedness will fill 
your souls with agony, and convulsive cries for mer- 
cy will tremble on your quivering lips. You may 
commit sin. You may sear your conscience so as 
to pass even the portal of the grave in your delusion. 
But when the light of eternity bursts on your guilty 
soul, you will come to a knowledge of yourself, 
your wilful disobedience, your sinful pollution, your 
wretched condition, And a sense, a realizing sense 



80 

of your lost and ruined state must fill your soul with 
indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. 
How can you then escape the natural consequence 
of your profligate course ? Can you then flee from 
your own thoughts ?■ Can you then desert your 
own reflections ? Can you then escape from your 
own soul ? Can you then hide from the inspec- 
tion of the ever present and all seeing God ! O no, 
there is no escape then from the punishment of sin 
but in reformation. As then you value your present 
happiness, the peace of a dying hour, and your soul's 
eternal salvation, 1 beseech you to remember that 
so sure as you commit sin, so sure will your sin find 
you out, in some way or other, sooner or later, in 
this world or the next. 



SERMON VII. 

DISOBEDIENCE INEXCUSABLE. 
ROMANS I. 20. THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE. 

Are there not some individuals present who in- 
tentionally neglect the prescribed duties of religion ? 
Who habitually disobey the commands of the gos- 
pel? Who willingly confess to themselves and oth- 
ers that they are not practical christians ? If so, I 
would ask you, my friends, whether you can offer 
any satisfactory excuse for your neglect and disobe- 
dience ? Any excuse satisfactory to your reason 
and conscience ? Any excuse which will prove 
satisfactory in the time of affliction, and in the hour 
of death, and in the day of judgment? 

1. Are the christian commands unreasonable? 
They require you to love your God with your whole 
heart. He is the perfect creator of the universe, 
the parent of all creatures, the ruler of all worlds. 
His nature is essentially love. He is your ever 
present and unchanging friend. He has brought 
you into existence, preserved you in being and 
crowned your lives with his goodness. You always 
have been, now are, and ever will be dependent 
8* 



82 

on him for all you are, for all you possess, for all 
you enjoy and for all you hope to realize. And is 
it not reasonable that you should love supremely 
such an almighty, infinitely merciful, all perfect 
Father ? And if you love him with your whole 
heart and soul, shall you not repent of all your de- 
viations from his holy laws, and thoroughly reform 
vour erroneous religious opinions, your sinful dispo- 
sitions and your wicked practices? Shall you not 
habitually worship him in sincerity and spirit and 
truth ? Shall you not constantly cultivate feelings of 
gratitude for his manifold favors, and cheerfully sub- 
mit lo the various dispensations of his unerring 
providence ? Shall you not repose unlimited confi- 
dence in his wisdom and love, and earnestly strive 
to know more of his character and perfections and 
government ? Shall you not continually aim to 
render unreserved obedience to his holy will, and 
sincerely endeavor to become perfect even as he is 
perfect? Is it unreasonable that you should culti- 
vate and possess this supreme love for your creator, 
preserver, benefactor and Father ? Is it unreasona- 
ble that your affection for this greatest, wisest and 
best of beings should yield these fruits of christian 
piety ? O no ; nothing can be more reasonable. 

The christian commands also require you to love 
your fellow men as yourself. They are your breth- 
ren, children of the same nature, entitled to the 
same rights, and indulging the same hopes as your- 
selves. They are also partakers in your infirmities 
and trials and afflictions. They are necessary to 



83 

your support and comfort, and equally probationers 
for a future state of blessedness. Christ has labor- 
ed and died for their salvation as well as yours, and 
they are by nature equally dear to your common 
Father. And is it not reasonable that you should 
love those whom God and Christ love ? And if 
you love them as yourselves, shall you not invaria- 
bly seek the promotion of their happiness as oppor- 
tunity, condition and circumstances permit ? Shall 
you not assist with your property, your counsel, your 
sympathy and your patronage the poor, the ignorant, 
the oppressed and the afflicted ? Shall you not deal 
justly, love mercy and walk humbly ? Shall you 
not bless those who curse you, pray for those who 
persecute you, and forgive those who injure you ? 
Shall you not wish well to all, even your enemies, 
and ever do unto others as you would have others 
do unto you? Is it unreasonable that you should 
thus love your fellow men ? Is it unreasonable that 
your affection for them should produce these fruits 
of christian benevolence ? O no ; nothing can be 
more reasonable. 

The christian commands likewise require you to 
love Christ Jesus in sincerity. He is the well be- 
loved son of God, the commissioned revealer of his 
will, the prince of peace and the Saviour of the 
world. He came upon earth in poverty, and labor- 
ed, suffered and died, that he might save you from 
ignorance, error, sin and death. He has left for 
your instruction, the words of eternal life, and for 
your imitation a perfect example. He arose from 



84 

the grave, to demonstrate your immortality, and as- 
cended to his God and Father, to prepare mansions 
for all his obedient followers. And is it not reason- 
able that you should Jove such a disinterested, such a 
compassionate, such an all sufficient Saviour ? And if 
you love him in sincerity, shall you not acknowledge 
him as the true messiah, the son of the most high, 
and the appointed head of the christian church? 
Should you not prize his gospel as a most invaluable 
legacy, as the very record of eternal life, and make 
it the only standard of your christian faith and prac- 
tice? Should you not often contemplate his perfect 
character, and endeavor to imitate his spotless ex- 
ample ? Should you not seek to imbibe much of his 
meek, humble, forgiving and devout spirit ? Is it 
unreasonable that you should thus love your Sa-r 
viour? Is it unreasonable that your affection for 
him should produce these natural fruits of gratitude 
and submission ? O no ; nothing can be more 
reasonable. The christian commands are not un- 
reasonable in their requirements. 

2. Are the christian commands impracticable ? 
Can you not love your fellow men, your Saviour and 
your God; in the manner required ? You love oth? 
er objects, your friends, your worldly occupations 
and pleasures, and the fruits of your affection appear 
in your daily conduct. Consequently you possess 
all the natural faculties of the human soul, and are 
not prevented from exercising religious love by any 
natural inability. 

Perhaps however you plead a moral inability. 



.85 

Perhaps you contend that you inherit a nature to- 
tally depraved, and that it is an utter impossibility 
for you to obey the reasonable requisitions of your 
heavenly Father. Do you understand the full force 
and meaning of such a plea ? You admit that the 
christian commands were given by God and promul- 
gated by Jesus Christ. You acknowledge that they 
are not unreasonable in their requirements, and that 
wilful disobedience is threatened with tremendous 
punishment. Now, if you affirm that you are not 
able to render the required obedience, you in reality 
declare that God who made man, and Jesus who 
knew what was in man, are either ignorant of man's 
ability, or are cruel in requiring of him impossibili- 
ties. Nor is this all. You in fact assert that they 
will be unjust if they punish him for not performing 
commanded duties. So much your plea of moral in- 
ability must prove, if it be founded in truth. Far be 
it from our minds to accuse God either of ignorance 
or cruelty or injustice. You have ability to obey the 
christian commands. 

But perhaps you plead a disinclination to the per- 
formance of religious duties. This may be true in 
your particular case. And whence arises your dis- 
inclination ? Is it natural or acquired ? Perhaps 
you say natural, resulting from the fallen nature you* 
have inherited from your first parents. Not so. 
Reason, conscience, experience, revelation, all as- 
sign a different cause for your disrelish for religious 
exercises. God has given to every individual all the 
necessary faculties for the performance of command- 



86 

ed duties. He places sufficient motives before those 
of you who have the gospel, when properly consid- 
ered, to excite you to their habitual performance. 
Your disinclination is therefore acquired ; acquired 
in various ways ; acquired by immersing yourselves 
in the cares and pleasures of the world ; by neglect- 
ing the study of your own hearts and the holy scrip- 
tures ; by disregarding the motives and sanctions of 
the gospel, and by not cultivating pious affections 
and religious habits. And I w T ould solemnly inquire, 
if any one who pleads this disinclination as an ex- 
cuse for disobedience, can conscientiously say, that 
he has given the subject of religion his serious and 
persevering attention? Can you say that you have 
spent hours and days in close self-examination and 
a prayerful study of the sacred gospel ? Can you 
say that you have uniformly made a determined 
resistance to the wicked suggestions of earth-born 
passions and propensities, to the allurements of a de- 
ceitful world, and to all temptation and sin ? Can 
you say that you have used strenuous exertions to 
keep yourself pure and unspotted from the world, to 
do unto others as you would have others do unto 
you, to love your Saviour sincerely and your God 
supremely ? H you have not done all this, and I 
fear your conscience must testify against you, your 
excuse of disinclination remains unsatisfactory ; and 
so it must remain until you have made an unsuccess- 
ful experiment. But this can never be. No. For 
no one who sincerely endeavored to love God and 
Christ and his neighbor ever failed of success. On 



87 

the contrary , thousands and tens of hundreds of thou- 
sands have succeeded in securing the one thing 
needful. The pleas of inability and disinclination 
are both groundless, and consequently the com- 
mands are practicable, so that whoever sincerely 
attempts their performance is sure of success. 

3. Is obedience to the christian commands unne- 
cessary ? Is it not necessary to secure your pre- 
sent and future happiness ? Examine one or two ar- 
guments upon this point. God gave you existence. 
He made you for happiness. He fully understands 
the wants of your nature. He is also the author of 
the gospel rules. He has given them solely for the 
benefit of mankind. Consequently they must be 
adapted to your condition. Obedience to them 
must therefore be essential to your felicity. 

Now what is thus proved true in theory is con- 
firmed by existing facts. Look at those who live in 
open disobedience. Are they not punished by 
their very wickedness ? Are they not tormented 
either by bodily disorders, or mental anguish, or le- 
gal enactments, or worldly wretchedness ? Most 
assuredly ; for you cannot deny that the way of 
trangressors is hard. On the other hand, observe 
the obedient christian. Is he not happy ? Anil do 
not his purest joys arise from his religious obedience, 
his conscious integrity, his tranquil passions, his 
self government, his benevolence, his piety, his 
blessed hopes of a glorious immortality ? Most assur- 
edly. No one will deny that the virtuous character is 
rewarded in some considerable degree by his virtues, 



and the wicked character punished by his iniquity. 
And if your obedience is absolutely necessary to your 
happiness in this world, it must be equally necessa- 
ry for your felicity in the world to come. Because 
your Father is unchangeable. His laws are immu- 
table. Nothing but moral goodness can yield the re- 
ward of happiness under his government. The dis- 
tinction between sin and holiness is unalterable. 
You have no promise of being made righteous by a 
miracle or by a mere passage from death to immor- 
tality. Consequently your future felicity must de- 
pend on your present obedience to the christian com- 
mands. 

The case then stands thus. These commands 
were given to make me good that I might be happy. 
If I obey them I shall pass through this sinful world 
comparatively pure. My temporal enjoyments will 
be greatly increased by my goodness. My present 
comfort will not be disturbed by a guilty conscience. 
The pains of my dying hour will not be aggravated 
by a recollection of past iniquity, or by fears of fu- 
ture misery. And I shall enter the eternal world, 
prepared for its never ending felicity. On the oth- 
er hand, if I disobey these commands, my soul will 
be defiled with sin. My present peace will be de- 
stroyed by the baneful effects of my wickedness, and 
by the ever painful compunctions of an accusing 
conscience. My character will be degraded, and. 
my company will be avoided by the wise and good. 
My example and influence may injure my friends, 
and ruin my offspring, and bring infamy on my name. 



89 

The hour of nature's dissolution will be embittered by 
a painful remembrance of the past, and be rendered 
agonizing by fearful forebodings of the future. And 
the just rewards of my misspent life will await my 
entrance into eternity. Thus two alternatives "are 
before me. On the one hand, a few years of earth- 
ly-mindedness and sensual gratification, attended 
with uneasiness and self-reproach, and followed by 
future condemnation and misery. On the other, a 
few years of self-denial and self-cultivation, attended 
with present satisfaction and inward joy, and followed 
by future and endless felicity. Which does my 
reason prompt me to choose ■? Unless it is very much 
perverted, nay, unless it is wholly depraved, it will 
prompt me to prefer happiness to misery. Looking 
therefore at the character of my Father, the com- 
mands of my Saviour, my own nature, and the expe- 
riences of the righteous and the wicked, I must ac- 
knowledge that obedience to the christian instructions 
is absolutely necessary to secure my present and fu- 
ture welfare. 

If then, my friends, the christian requirements 
are reasonable, and practicable, and necessary, am 
I not justified in declaring that you have no satisfac- 
tory excuse for your neglect and disobedience ? 
no excuse satisfactory to your conscience or your 
Father ? And if you are living in this known, in- 
tentional, habitual disobedience, permit me to as- 
sure you, that you are daily acting contrary to your 
highest interest; contrary to the best feelings of 
your nature; contrary to the soundest dictates of 
9 



90 

your reason ; contrary to the clearest convictions of 
your conscience ; contrary to your temporal and 
future happiness, and contrary to the revealed wish- 
es of your Saviour and your God. And should 
you be called from this state of probation in your 
present condition, how would you disarm death of 
its terrors ? Look at the immoral person when 
brought upon the bed of sickness, and the shadows of 
the grave are hovering over him, and all earthly 
objects are fading from his sight; why does he 
shudder at the approach of the destroyer, and 
grasp with his hands as if his soul were drowning, 
and pour forth the bitterness of an agonized con- 
science ? When the heavens are black with clouds, 
and the lightnings flash vividly, and the thunders 
roar harshly, and death seems approaching instantly, 
look at the profligate ; why does his pulse flutter, 
and his strength fail, and his limbs tremble, and his 
heart sicken ? When the stormy winds arise, and 
the billows of the deep are in commotion, and the 
fragile bark is at the mercy of the raging elements, 
look at the profane mariner ; why does his soul sink 
within him, and the paleness of death mantle his 
face, and the hasty prayer to an omnipresent God 
tremble on his quivering lips ? Do these persons 
fear the loss of worldly goods ? All on earth they 
would give for one moment's reprieve. Is it the fear 
of pain, the pain of dying? O no ; for this can be 
but momentary. Is it the fear of an hereafter ; a 
dread of appearing before God, arising from a con- 
sciousness of known disobedience to the christian 



91 

commands. This fear you can avoid only in one 
way 5 only by living soberly, righteously and godly in 
the present world. And you should also ever remem- 
ber that the hour is coming, when all that are in the 
graves shall hear the voice of the son of man, and 
come forth ; they that have done good, unto the 
resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil 
unto the resurrection of condemnation. As then 
you value a happy life, a happy death, and a happy 
immortality, I beseech you to disobey the christian 
commands no longer. I entreat you to begin the 
great work of reformation and improvement, imme- 
diately ; and, relying on the promised assistance of 
your Father, persevere unto the end, that you may 
hereafter receive an inheritance, incorruptible, un- 
defined, and unfading. 



SERMON VIII. 

FAULTS REMEMBERED AND CORRECTED. 
GENESIS XLI. 9. I DO REMEMBER MY FAULTS THIS DAY. 

We are all chargeable, my christian friends, with 
more or fewer faults. They may arise either from 
our self-ignorance, or our self-partiality, or our self- 
deception. And unless discovered and corrected, 
they will produce many compunctions of conscience, 
greatly diminish our usefulness, and bring much re- 
proach upon our religious character. 

I. How then can our faults be called to remem- 
brance ? By close and searching self-examination. 
In order to aid you in the discharge of this impor- 
tant duty, you will permit me to make the following 
inquiries ; and may our ever present Father enable 
you to return to your own consciences, faithful and 
honest answers to each and all of my questions. 

1. In regard to your personal duties, have you 
faithfully improved your privileges for mental and 
moral and religious instruction ? Have not your ap- 
petites and passions frequently triumphed over the 
voice of reason and conscience and revelation ? 
Have you not w r asted much precious time ; abused 



93 

many opportunities for improvement, and greatly 
neglected the proper cultivation of your talents? 
Have not your thoughts been often vain and sinful ? 
Have not your actions been too much influenced by 
selfish and worldly considerations ? Have not your 
affections been too exclusively given to the world ; 
to its vanities and pleasures and honors ? Have not 
the moments been few, comparatively few, which you 
have devoted to the all-important concerns of your 
souls 5 to the acquisition of the graces and virtues of 
the gospel ? And for want of proper self-cultivation 
and self-discipline, have not the rank weeds of world 
ly-mindedness sprung up in your hearts, and spread 
their poisoning influence over your whole character ? 
2. In regard to your social duties, have you loved 
your fellow-men as yourselves ? Have you not 
often cherished ill will and revengeful feelings to- 
wards those who have disappointed your expecta- 
tions, crossed your wishes, or opposed your inter- 
ests ? Have you not sometimes suffered ignorant 
prejudice and party feeling to alienate your good 
will from those who were not of your side ; and 
cause you to throw out designing hints, injurious sus- 
picions, base insinuations, or unfounded charges 
respecting their motives or principles or conduct 
Have you faithfully exerted your influence in check- 
ing the progress of wickedness and infidelity, and in 
promoting pure morality and practical religion ? 
Have you habitually ministered of your substance, 
your sympathy, or your good counsels, to the poor 
and wretched, the sick and afflicted, the ignorant 
9* 



94 

and erring ? In numberless instances, have you not 
thought things, and said things, and done things, 
which you would not wish others to think and say 
and do, were their case your own ? 

3. In regard to your religious duties, have you 
prayerfully studied the sacred scriptures, and sin- 
cerely endeavored to make them the only standard 
of your christian faith and practice ? Has not your 
faith in Jesus been too weak and inoperative ? Has 
your gratitude for his unmerited favors, and your 
love for his sublime and exalted . character, been 
properly cherished by a frequent perusal of his whole 
history and an earnest contemplation of his heavenly 
virtues ? When you have endeavored to worship 
the Father in spirit and truth, have not your thoughts 
wandered from the great object of prayer, and your 
affections been cold and languid, and unhallowed 
motives and selfish desires and unchristian wishes 
mingled in your petitions. And instead of loving 
your God with your whole heart and soul and 
strength, have you not been forgetful of his presence 
and blessings, and disobedient to his holy will ? Are 
not the faults now hinted at known in a greater or 
less degree to every one of us who knows his own 
heart, and is striving to cultivate and exhibit the vir- 
tues of the christian character ? 

II. What effect then should this knowledge of 
our failings have upon our minds ? It should make 
us humble and charitable and watchful. 

1 . This knowledge of our faults should make us 
humble. If we truly know ourselves, we shall not 



95 

be elated with spiritual pride. We shall never boast 
of our merits either for believing much or doing much 
or receiving much. We shall never say to our fellow 
sinner, either in words or by actions, Stand by thy- 
self, we are holier than thou. No. We shall the 
rather say, God be merciful to us transgressors. 
We shall from the heart freely forgave all who tres- 
pass against us, as we hope for divine forgiveness. 
We shall look upon all mankind as brethren ; as chil- 
dren of the same common parent, and equally dear to 
the universal Father. On religious subjects, sensi- 
ble of the difficulty of arriving at truth on all points ; 
knowing how much our opinions are liable to be in- 
fluenced by our feelings, our prejudices, our early 
associations and our interests ; conscious of our lia- 
bility to err on all topics, especially on those which 
are incapable of perfect comprehension by finite 
minds, we shall ever assume the tone of humble dif- 
fidence rather than of positiveness ; and always keep 
our judgments open for the admission of further 
evidence and more light, frankly confessing as well 
as really feeling, that we may be in error as well as 
others. 

2. This knowledge of our faults should also make 
us charitable. Knowing our own failings, we shall feel 
disposed to make proper allowances for the failings of 
others. The less censorious shall we be, the more 
we know of our own hearts. Instead of devoting our 
time and attention to the discovery and publication 
of our neighbors' faults, we shall find sufficient em- 
ployment in discovering and correcting our own. 



96 

Instead of condemning those who do not embrace 
our peculiar views of religion, we shall rememember 
that different minds are differently constituted, and 
differently educated, and differently affected by the 
same evidence, and under the influence of different 
impressions and associations and interests and prejudi- 
ces and passiogs, and consequently may naturally 
and innocently arrive at different conclusions on the 
same subject. We shall recollect that others differ no 
more from us than we do from them ; and that it is 
as impossible for others to alter their belief without 
farther evidence, if their belief rests on evidence, 
as for us to alter ours. While we wish others to be- 
lieve us sincere in our opinions, we shall cheerfully 
give them the same credit. And instead of denoun- 
cing any as heretics, or infidels, or enthusiasts, for 
a mere difference in religious sentiments, we shall 
cheerfully embrace in the arms of our charity all 
who bring forth the fruits of righteousness. 

3. This knowledge of our faults should likewise 
make us watchful. Temptations beset us on'every side. 
We have foes within and foes without. And noth- 
ing but constant vigilance and unwearied exertion can 
vanquish our spiritual enemies and secure our pro- 
gress in religion. We should search fearlessly into 
the deep recesses of our souls' and bring to light the 
hidden things of darkness. We should often com- 
pare our whole character with the requisitions of the 
gospel, determined to know ourselves, the very worst 
of ourselves, that we may apply the proper remedies 
to all our moral maladies. We should labor, by 



97 

habitual practice, to make all the duties of religion 
a pleasure, and often let the pure incense of devo- 
tion ascend from the consecrated altars of our hearts. 
If therefore our knowledge of ourselves makes us 
more humble, more charitable and more watchful, 
then will many of our faults be corrected and our 
characters essentially improved. 

III. What means then shall we adopt for the fur- 
ther discovery and correction of our faults ? We 
must listen to the voice of public opinion, friendship, 
religion and conscience. 

1 . If we would discover and correct all our faults, we 
must listen to the voice of public opinion. More or 
fewer remarks are made concerning us all. Some 
of them may be wholly true ; some partly true, and 
some absolutely false. We must listen to these so 
far as to ascertain, by a strict self-examination and a 
rigid comparison of ourselves with the *only rule of 
duty, whether they are true, or founded in any de- 
gree on truth. If upon proper inspection, we detect 
in ourselves any thing wrong, or which has even the 
appearance of evil, we must immediately rebuke and 
forsake it. We must not reject such information be^ 
cause it may chance to come from the gossiping, the 
unfriendly and the malicious. It is the part of wis- 
dom and duty to give proper heed to all just remarks 
concerning ones' character, and when made acquaint- 
ed with our faults, from whatever source the know- 
ledge has been derived, faithfully to confess them, 
and carefully to apply the wholesome remedies which 
reason and religion alike prescribe, 



98 

2. If we would discover and correct all our faults, 
we must listen also to the voice of friendship. To 
give us information of our faults is the kindest act of 
friendship. He who does not faithfully perform this 
duty is not a true friend ; and he who does not grate- 
fully receive any such intimations, is unworthy the 
blessings he possesses. Friendship naturally implies 
an almost unreserved interchange of thought, and the 
deepest interest in each others' welfare. And shall 
my friend pretend that he opens to me his whole 
heart, and that he is deeply interested in my welfare, 
while he withholds from me his knowledge of my 
faults, the only information that can essentially ben- 
efit me ; and if he faithfully performs this delicate, 
difficult and primary duty, shall I be angry and cast 
him off? Let those who thus act, denominate their 
alliance by some other name than friendship. If then 
we are blessed with friends, we must request them, 
as they regard our spiritual welfare, to have an eye 
on our conduct and to be prompt in acquainting us 
with our faults; and with sincerity and earnestness 
should we avail ourselves of the least hint from them 
to amend our characters. 

3. If we would discover and correct all our faults, 
we must listen likewise to the voice from the pulpit. 
It is the preacher's duty to adapt his instructions to 
the circumstances and wants of every hearer. If he 
draws them from his own experience, from his ob- 
servations on society, and from the volume of in- 
spiration, they will apply in a greater or less degree 
to every individual. We should therefore listen for 



99 

our own direct improvement, and not for the special 
benefit of our neighbor. We should v listen as those 
who expect to give an account for the use made of 
all the means of goodness ; as those who are deeply 
solicitous to be made wiser, better and happier. 
And when we examine the scriptures to ascertain the 
correctness of the preacher's statements, we must 
never omit to prove our own hearts and lives by the 
same holy standard. Let us beware of that mis- 
placed criticism which wastes the precious moments, 
when our recollections of what we have heard are 
the freshest, in idle comments on the preacher's tal- 
ents. The first use we make of a sermon should be 
the application of it to our own hearts. He who 
neglects this, let turn go to conventicle or to church, 
and hear the most gifted or the most indifferent 
preacher, is alike unprofited, and might as well not 
have gone to the house of worship at all. 

4. If we would discover and correct all our faults, 
we must finally listen to the voice of conscience.. 
We must daily seek to enlighten this inward moni- * 
tor by the devout study of christian principles. We 
must let her admonitions guide us implicitly, as a 
man follows a conducter whom he believes to be 
trustworthy ihrough paths to himself all unknown. 
But we must never mistake the wicked suggestions 
of passion or interest or obstinacy for her instructions. 
We must not plead conscience as an excuse for any 
action or any course of conduct, unless it is in strict 
accordance with the precepts and example of Jesus. 
Any feelings or any actions which are not sanction- 



100 

ed by the plain rules and acknowledged spirit of his 
religion, are not the fruits of a healthy conscience. 
We must therefore scrutinize every motive and 
principle of action and bring them into subjection to 
the divine standard. And in order to succeed in 
our endeavors, we must ever accompany our hear- 
ing, our reading, our self-examination and our self- 
cultivation with this humble ejaculation v Lord, 
cleanse thou me from secret faults ; keep back thy 
servant also from presumptuous sins ! 






SERMON IX. 

CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 
LUKE XXII. 42. KOT MY WILL, BUT THINE BE DONE. 

We are constantly exposed to disappointment and 
suffering and sorrow. They approach us in every 
situation and under every variety of form. Neither 
poverty nor riches, neither ignorance nor learning, 
neither neglect nor honor, afford any exemption from 
the frailties and trials and afflictions of humanity. 
One day we are blessed with a competence of this 
world's goods. A grateful contentment gladdens our 
heart. A tranquil joy elevates our feelings. A 
cheering hope brightens our future prospects. On 
the next our prosperity is at an end. Some unfore- 
seen event, some miscalculation or negligence of 
our own, or some misfortune or injustice of another, 
deprives us of our accumulated treasures, casts us 
into poverty and dependence, scatters our present 
joys, and blights our future prospects. At one 
time the ruddy hue of health flushes in our 
cheeks. Vigor and strength animate our limbs. 
Our sensations are lively and acute. And our ideas 
are clear and vivid. In a short period we are pros- 
]0 



102 

trated on a bed of pain and sickness. The glow 
of health gives place to the sallow paleness of dis- 
ease. The vigor of our limbs sinks into oppressive 
languor or even infantile weakness. Our sensations 
become slow, obscure and nearly extinct. And our 
ideas are broken, confused or blotted out. To-day 
we possess the confidence and esteem of our fellow 
men. Our society is sought with eagerness, and 
our approach is hailed with delight. Tomorrow the 
demon of detraction and slander is abroad. Our 
motives and principles and conduct are misrepre- 
sented. Our characters are defamed and blasted. 
And our presence is shunned as pestilential. At 
one time our circle of relatives is large and unbrok- 
en. From their society and friendship we derive 
improvement and happiness. Either we have pa- 
rents who correct our youthful follies and errors, 
council our thoughtlessness, and instruct our in- 
experience ; or we have children who relieve the 
wants, alleviate the sufferings, and sustain us under 
the decrepitude of our advancing years. Either we 
have husbands or wives, lovers or friends, in whose 
affection we implicitly confide, into whose bosoms 
we pour our hopes and fears, our joys and sorrows, 
and from whose sympathy and love, we derive com- 
fort and assistance ; or we have brothers and sisters 
who reciprocate our confidence and regard, direct 
our pursuits and encourage our good undertakings. 
But soon, alas ! this circle is broken and diminished. 
Death takes from our sight the dearest objects 
of our hearts. A revered parent or promising 



103 

child, a beloved partner or endeared friend, an 
affectionate brother or promising sister is called to 
the bar of God. And with agonized hearts, we 
either follow the lifeless clay to the silent grave, or 
in solitude pour forth the tears of anguish at their un- 
expected death in a distant land. Thus in various 
ways are our dearest comforts taken from us, our 
fondest hopes disappointed, and our souls greatly 
distressed. - 

And now, my friends, where will you seek a rem- 
edy for these common and unavoidable sufferings? 
Will you, like some heathen of old, seize the in- 
strument of destruction, and terminate your earthly 
existence ? The soul shudders at the thought. At- 
tachment to life, natural conscience, a dread of an 
hereafter rise to deter you from an act so cowardly, 
so inhuman, so impious. Will you, like some un- 
believers, plunge into vice and dissipation, and strive 
to drown your cares and your sorrows in the poison- 
ous streams of sensuality ? This would but increase 
your sufferings, sharpen the stings of conscience, 
and fill your soul with horror and remorse. Will 
you, like some weak disciples, cherish a stubborn 
and unyielding spirit, and give yourselves up to re- 
pinings and discontent? This would also aggravate 
your misery, deaden your finer sensibilities, destroy 
what is amiable and virtuous in your dispositions, 
and expose you a prey to consuming fretfulness and 
melancholy. No. You will seek a remedy from 
none of these sources. You will look higher for 
consolation, even to your heavenly Father. For 



104 

you must know that a God of infinite love would 
never expose his frail dependent children to such 
privations and afflictions without prescribing some 
adequate remedy. Such a remedy he has given 
you power to secure. It is christian resignation. 
I. What then is christian resignation ? 

1. Christian resignation is a virtuous disposition 
of the soul. You may acquire it as you acquire 
other christian graces. You will bring it into active 
exercise in seasons of danger and sorrow. Under 
its influence you will calmly submit to the will of 
your heavenly Father. You will endure actual suf- 
ferings with composure. You will exhibit a filial 
confidencein the divine wisdom and justice. You 
will manifest a sincere conviction that all the events 
of your lives are ordered by infinite goodness. 
And although you will acquiesce in a state of which 
you perceive the evils, yet you may justly indulge 
the hope of some future exemption. 

2. You perceive therefore that resignation does 
not require you to be insensible to your sufferings. 
Those affections of your nature which cause the 
bosom to heave with sorrow, and the eye to moisten 
with tears, are not to be destroyed. They were 
implanted within us for the best of purposes. They 
render us social and moral and religious beings. 
They constitute the glory of humanity. Their pro- 
per government and culture forms an important part 
of our moral discipline. They are indeed to be 
regulated by the dictates of reason and religion. 
But neither of these forbid their proper indulgence* 



105 

And when the storms of affliction press heavily up- 
on us, we may lawfully give vent to the natural feel- 
ings of our troubled souls. In so doing we but imi- 
tate the example of the wise and good of all ages. 
Afflicted Job indicated his sensibility to suffering, 
by rending his mantle, shaving his head and falling 
prostrate on the earth. The dutiful Joseph made a 
seven days mourning for his father. Great lamen- 
tation was made over Stephen, the first christian 
martyr, by the devout men who carried him to his 
burial. And even the divine Jesus groaned in spirit 
and wept at the grave of his beloved Lazarus. 
What these pious worthies have done, what Jesus 
our great exemplar has done, we may lawfully do; 
but like him we should ever feel prepared to say, 
not my will but thine be done. 

3. Not only so. As resignation does not require 
you to be insensible to sufferings, neither does it re- 
quire you to be silent and inactive under them. 
True, in seasons of sorrow, you are commanded to 
be still, and know that the Lord is God. And you 
are taught that David when severely afflicted was 
dumb ; that Aaron when fire from heaven destroy- 
ed his sons held his peace ; and that the good man 
under the yoke of affliction sitteth alone and keepeth 
silence. But nothing is here forbidden except the 
language of complaint and the activity of opposition. 
And by the spirit of these passages, we are also 
prohibited, either from murmuring against the dis- 
pensations of providence, or from cherishing a tem- 
per of opposition or sullenness or disquietude. All 
10* 



106 

these we are forbidden and most wisely too, for they 
are directly opposed to any filial confidence in God 
or to any proper submission to his authority. We 
are however not prohibited, but on the contrary are 
commanded to call upon our Father in our distress ; 
sincerely to acknowledge his right to afflict and be- 
reave ; gratefully to profess our trust in his paternal 
love, and humbly to thank him for his manifold un- 
merited blessings. While we acknowledge his hand 
in our troubles, we should endeavor to improve them 
to our best welfare. We shall thus be led to a 
closer self-examination ; to a more punctual discharge 
of every duty, and to a more zealous cultivation and 
exercise of the christian graces and virtues. We 
shall adopt measures to render our repentance more 
thorough, our benevolence more expansive, our 
purity from worldly pollution more perfect, and our 
trust and confidence in God more steadfast and un- 
shaken. Under worldly losses we shall labor more 
diligently to provide things honest in the sight of all 
men. Under the loss of health we shall be patient, 
submissive and cheerful. Under the loss of reputa- 
tion we shall be the more careful to let our light 
shine before others and avoid even the appearance 
of evil. Under the loss of friends we shall transfer 
our affections and redouble our attentions to those 
who survive. All this we may do — all this we ought 
to do, in compliance with our holy religion. 

4. But this is not all. As resignation does not 
require silence and inactivity under our afflictions, 
neither does it forbid the most earnest prayer for de- 



107 

liverance from them. This is put beyond a doubt 
by the example of Jesus. His memorable and 
touching supplications in the garden for deliverance 
from those agonizing sufferings which he acknowl- 
edged he came to endure, were the most fervent and 
impassioned that ever ascended to the throne of God. 
Yet each successive petition to have the bitter cup 
pass from him was accompanied with equally sincere 
professions of resignation. Now is my soul troubled, 
and what shall I say ? Shall I say, Father, save me 
from this hour ? But I came on purpose for this 
hour. Father, glorify thy name. Father, if thou be 
willing, remove this cup from me ; nevertheless, not 
my w 7 ill but thine be done. In conformity w 7 ith this 
example we may earnestly pray for deliverance from 
afflictions. And though infinite wisdom may not see 
best to grant our requests, yet our souls, by the very 
act of prayer, will be prepared to receive with com- 
posure and sustain with patience all the dispensations 
of providence. 

5. Finally, there is a delusion into which some 
persons are apt to fall on this subject. They seem 
to- think themselves resigned, when in reality they 
submit to the will of God reluctantly, and from the 
mere conviction of their inability to resist it. In- 
quire why they are resigned, and you are told that 
God is omnipotent, that he acts his pleasure in the 
heavens above and amongst the inhabitants of the 
earth, that feeble man has no power to resist his 
operations, and therefore they must submit. Con- 
sequently they submit, not because their afflictions 



108 

are ordered by infinite love and designed to promote 
their spiritual welfare; not because they cherish a 
filial affection for their heavenly Father, and are the 
subjects of his paternal government ; but simply be- 
cause they have not power to oppose the operations 
of the Almighty. This is not christian resignation. 
Those who indulge such thoughts and feelings de- 
ceive themselves. Their hearts are not right in the 
sight of God. You thus learn that christian resig- 
nation is a calm and cheerful acquiesence in the will 
of God at all times, but especially in seasons of sor- 
row and affliction ; and that sensibility to sufferings, 
activity under them and prayer for deliverance from 
them, are perfectly consistent with this virtuous dis- 
position. 

II. What then is the value and importance of chris- 
tian resignation ? 

1. You cannot secure the enjoyment of the pre- 
sent existence, unless you acquire and possess chris- 
tian resignation. As this life is a scene of trial and 
probation, you can neither expect nor find perfect 
happiness. When however you consider your va- 
rious capacities for pleasure and the manifold means 
provided for their gratification, you must be convin- 
ced that God made you for felicity. You must feel 
satisfied that he intended your joy should greatly 
exceed your sorrow. You must sensibly realize that 
he has put it within your power to secure the former 
and avoid the latter. Now happiness is a state of 
agreeable feeling. And as you are sensitive beings, 
intellectual beings, moral beings and religious beings > 



109 

you will find agreeable feelings belonging to you in 
each of these capacities. As sensitive beings, you 
may derive happiness from the beauties and won- 
ders of nature, and from the charms of music, paint- 
ing and sculpture. As intellectual beings, you may 
derive happiness from the boundless stores of know- 
ledge, the free interchange of thought and the sub- 
lime operations of intellect. As moral beings, you 
may derive happiness from the practice of virtue, 
the exercise of the social and domestic affections and 
the approbation of conscience. As religious beings, 
you may derive happiness from loving, worshipping 
and serving your heavenly Father, contemplating 
his character, perfections, providence and revelation ; 
from a filial trust in his love as made known by his 
anointed Jesus, and from that moral purity and reli- 
gious elevation of soul produced by a practical con- 
formity to the gospel. Such in general terms are 
our capacities and means of happiness. And as to 
the degree of our enjoyment, it depends principally 
upon ourselves, upon the manner in which we im- 
prove our capacities, and the spirit with which we 
receive and relinquish the various blessings of our 
mortal existence. 

Now, my friends, if you would secure any good 
degree of temporal happiness, you must possess and 
maintain in all the changes of life a proper spirit of 
resignation. For this will influence you to consider 
God as your Creator, your moral governor, your 
merciful Father, who has a perfect right to do with 
you and yours as seemeth him good, and who will 



110 

ever exercise over you that government which has 
the most direct tendency to promote your highest in- 
terests. You will regard yourselves as his creatures, 
accountable to him for all your talents and privileges, 
and indebted solely to his goodness for life and its 
attendant favors. You will receive all the adversities 
and afflictions of mortality as fatherly chastisements, 
originating in infinite affection and designed to ani- 
mate you in a more faithful discharge of all your 
duties. You will relinquish all earthly comforts 
when he sees proper to take them, with cheerful- 
ness, and ever manifest filial gratitude for all the 
mercies he is pleased to bestow. A spirit of true 
resignation will cause you to cherish such views of 
the character and government of God. such disposi- 
tions for receiving and relinquishing the blessings of 
life ; and consequently will qualify you for receiving 
and enjoying the highest degree of earthly happiness. 
But on the other hand, if you are destitute of this 
resigned and submissive temper, you must also be 
deprived of this enjoyment. For instead of receiv- 
ing the pleasures of life with grateful feelings, which 
are happy feelings, you will be filled with discontent, 
which is subversive of all rational comfort. Instead of 
cheerfully submitting to the troubles and disappoint- 
ments and afflictions of life, you will regard them as 
real evils, and thus be led to indulge in fretfulness and 
complainings and repinings, which destroy the equa- 
bility of your tempers, foster habits of disquietude, 
and dissipate all the amiable qualities ofyour heartSc 
From God or religion, you can derive no satisfac- 



Ill 

tion; for your wills will be in opposition to the di- 
vine will. From your fellow men you can derive no 
pleasure; for while your bosoms are filled with envy 
and other evil passions, you can exercise no genuine 
benevolence. Consequently you cannot secure the 
happiness of the present existence. 

2. You cannot secure the happiness of heaven, 
unless you acquire and possess christian resignation. 
For this can be attained only by obtaining the ne- 
cessary qualifications for its enjoyment. And these 
consist in a conformity to the moral image of your 
heavenly Father, by which your soul is prepared for 
admission into his holy presence ; in a supreme love 
for his character ; in a delight and fondness for his 
worship ; in an unlimited confidence in his wisdom 
and benevolence ; in a freedom from earthly pollu- 
tion, and in an actual possession of the christian 
temper and character. How can a person destitute 
of resignation make this necessary preparation ? 
Can a person who murmurs at the dispensation of 
God love him supremely ? Can a person who re- 
pines under the fatherly chastisements of God wor- 
ship him sincerely ? Can a person who complains 
of the partiality of God trust in him implicitly ? Can 
a person who manifests a spirit of opposition to the 
authority of God obey him unreservedly ? Can a 
person who exhibits none of the spirit of Jesus, and 
imitates none of his examples, and submits to none of 
his laws, be one of his true followers ? Surely not. 
Neither can an unresigned person obtain deliver- 
ance from earthborn passions and propensities ; orac- 



112 

quire the heavenly graces and virtues and affections of 
the gospel. For the indulgence of such a temper, 
has a direct tendency to produce hardness of heart 
and blindness of mind, and to destroy the benev- 
olent sympathies and tender charities of the soul, the 
virtuous and amiable dispositions, everything lovely, 
praiseworthy and religious. Consequently you can 
neither secure the enjoyment of this life, nor the ne- 
cessary preparation for heavenly happiness, unless you 
acquire and possess christian resignation. 

III. How then can christian resignation be acquir- 
ed ? As we acquire other virtuous dispositions, by 
moral culture and religious discipline. The feelings 
must be restrained within proper bounds by spirit- 
ed and repeated efforts. And the mind must be 
often exercised upon such suhjects as have a natural 
tendency to produce filial submission to the divine 
will. Some of the most important topics of medi- 
tation I will now mention. 

1. Would you acquire christian resignation, you 
must reflect much upon the character and perfec- 
tions of God. Correct views on this most impor- 
tant subject will have a powerful effect in produc- 
ing filial submission. Such views you may obtain 
from three sources ; from nature, providence and re- 
velation. These three have the same author j for 
he that made the world governs it ; and he that 
governs the world has spoken to its inhabitants by 
his chosen prophets, and especially by his well be- 
loved son Jesus Christ. These three not only have 
the same author, but they speak the same language, 



113 

concerning bis divine perfections, though with une- 
qual degrees of distinctness. The works of nature 
teach you that there is one supreme creator, infinite 
in power, wisdom and benevolence. The events 
of providence assure you that he rules the creatures 
of his hands in righteousness, justice and mercy. 
The instructions of revelation convince you that his 
nature is essentially love ; that he is really and truly 
your ever present Father. Not only so. You learn 
that he is the common parent of the human family, 
having made of one blood all nations of men. You 
learn that he is no respecter of persons, but accept- 
eth all who fear him and work righteousness. You 
learn that he is kind and bountiful, even to the dis- 
obedient and unthankful, not willing that any should 
perish but desirous that all should come to repen- 
tance and be saved. You learn that he is long suf- 
fering, more ready to grant the requests of his sin- 
cere worshippers than earthly parents are to give 
good gifts to their offspring. You lenrn that he af- 
flicts not the children of men willingly, but solely 
for their best welfare. Above all you learn that his 
unspeakable love for his human family, notwithstand- 
ing their base ingratitude to the best of fathers, and 
their wilful disobedience to the wisest of laws, has 
caused him to send his own son to save them, by 
his instructions, example, sufferings, death and re- 
surrection, from ignorance and error, from superstition 
and condemnation, from misery and death. And 
with him will he not freely give you all things ? 
11 



114 

Most assuredly. He will withhold no good thing from 
the obedient children of his affection. 

Such, my friends, is the character of your Father 
as made known in the volumes of nature, provi- 
dence and revelation. Being perfect in all his attri- 
butes, you perceive that he could give existence to 
rational creatures for no object but their own happi- 
ness. Being essentially love in his nature, you see 
that he can never afflict his dependant children in 
anger or wrath or resentment. Being indeed a Fa- 
ther of his whole family, you understand that he 
can have no interest separate from the best ultimate 
welfare of all his offspring. These views, you no- 
tice, are rational and scriptural and consolitory. Let 
them be constantly cherished in your souls. Let 
them excite you to the habitual love and worship 
and service of your all perfect creator. And when 
clouds and darkness seem to veil his face, when he 
takes from you those comforts which he gave, when 
your hearts are swelling with sorrow and grief, let 
these views of his character give you comfort. Still 
look up to him as your Almighty friend ; still bless 
his holy name. For meditation on such topics will 
lead you to feel an unshaken confidence in the su- 
preme parent, and increase your love for his excel- 
lencies, and make you truly submissive to his all 
wise dispensations. 

2. Would you acquire christian resignation, you 
must reflect much on the doctrine of an overruling 
providence. You will remember that your Father 
is every where present, and either directs or permits 



115 

all the occurrences above human control. Do you 
ask for proofs of this truth ? I prove it from the di- 
vine attributes. Must not he who created all things 
necessarily be present in all parts of his creation ? 
I prove it from the involuntary suggestions of the 
heart of man. In times of danger does it not spon- 
taneously send forth its prayers to an omnipresent 
Deity ? And do not these cries of distressed nature 
almost as certainly ascend from the skeptic, the in- 
fidel, the idolatrous heathen, and the superstitious 
savage, as from the pure and holy bosom of the de- 
vout christian ? I prove it from your own experi- 
ence. Who of you has not suffered days of afflic- 
tion and night's of sorrow ? Who has not had his 
wishes opposed, his expectations disappointed and his 
fondest hopes blasted? And what friendly arm, 
what kind power has supported you under all your 
disappointments, sufferings and sorrows, but the 
ever-present, all-knowing, all-sustaining Father ? I 
prove it from the declarations of Jesus. Not a 
sparrow falleth to the ground without the notice of 
your constant preserver, and even by him are the 
very hairs of your head numbered. Yes. God is 
every where present. He either directs or permits 
all the events of your existence which are beyond 
your control. In him we all live and move and have 
our being. Let this comforting, this sustaining, this 
purifying doctrine be ever present to your minds. 
Let it preserve you from sin and despondency, and 
incite you to virtue and obedience. Ever remem- 
ber that whatever be your situation, whether afflict- 



116 

ed by disappointment or poverty or sickness or loss 
of friends, your Father is at all times present with 
you ; he knows your distresses; he hears your cries, 
even the humble whispers of your heart ; and he will 
have compassion on your trials, and dry up your 
tears, and remove your sufferings, whenever they 
have produced their destined effects on your hearts 
and lives. 

3. Would you acquire christian resignation, you 
must reflect much upon your condition as creatures 
of a heavenly Father in a world of discipline and 
probation. As creatures of God you are ever at his 
disposal. You have ever been, still are, and always 
will be, wholly dependent on his love for your exis- 
tence and all its blessings. And shall not a perfect 
creator do as he pleases with his own ? Will you 
not rejoice in your dependence on a governor so 
wise, and a Father so merciful ? Will you not com- 
mit all your concerns to his unerring guidance ? 
And as probationers for a better existence, you must 
necessarily experience a mixture of suffering and 
enjoyment. All your trials are the result of infinite 
wisdom and benevolence, and are designed to train 
you up to high degrees of holiness, that you may be 
prepared for greater degrees of happiness both here 
and hereafter. For if your maker is essentially 
love, can he have any other object in his dispensa- 
tions ? Would any of you who are parents adopt any 
measures with your children, but such as you really 
believed would promote their real interests ? And 
can you have the presumption to suppose that you 
are better than your heavenly Father ? No ; you 



117 

wish to see your offspring happj^, and you would do 
all in your power to secure their improvement and 
goodness and enjoyment. They are free agents and 
have the ability either to comply with your wishes 
or disregard your kind intentions ; and they must 
reap the reward of their own courses. So with your 
Father in heaven. He desires the best good of all 
his dependent creatures ; and all his dispensations 
whether called afflictive or joyful are intended to 
make them wiser and better and happier. But they 
are free agents ; they have the power to improve or 
abuse all his favors or chastisements, and if they 
bring misery upon themselves the fault is their own. 
If then you believe that you are creatures of an all- 
perfect Father, and in a world of discipline and pro- 
bation, you must admit that every afflictive dispensa- 
tion is designed for your true spiritual interest. You 
must also acknowledge that you have ability to ren- 
der all such events productive either of improvement 
in moral goodness or of an increase in wickedness 
and consequent wretchedness. How careful then 
ought you to be, my friends, to make a wise and 
salutary use of all your trials? Every disappoint- 
ment should remind you of the uncertainty and van- 
ity of nil earthly expectations ; and teach you the 
necessity of acquiring a preparation for endless felici- 
ty beyond the grave. Every worldly loss should ex- 
cite you to lay up treasures in heaven where neither 
moths can eat nor rust corrupt nor thieves steal. The 
loss of endeared and virtuous friends should inspire 
new ardor in making all proper preparation for the 
11* 



118 

last trying hour, and for a joyful encrance upon the 
rewards of heaven. 

4. Would you acquire christian resignation, you 
must frequently contemplate the example of Jesus. 
His public ministry, from his temptation in the wil- 
derness to his agonizing death on the cross, was one 
continued scene of labor and fatigue, suffering and 
persecution, sorrow and affliction. And though his 
conduct and motives were pure and disinterested ; 
though he devoted himself wholly to the welfare of 
mankind ; though he continually went about doing 
good ; yet he was calumniated and slandered ; he 
was exposed to insults the most provoking ; to malice 
the most inveterate ; to bigotry the most intolerant, 
and to cruelty the most inhuman. Amidst all these 
unprovoked and unmerited trials he ever maintained 
a spirit of perfect resignation to the will of his heav - 
enly Father. ' View him in the garden when the 
dreadful scene of shame and suffering he had to pass 
through most strongly affected his imagination ; when 
death in the most terrific form presented itself to his 
mind. His soul was exceeding sorrowful, he was 
filled with anguish, yet he was perfectly resigned. 
In his a^ony he prayed, Father if possible let this 
cup pass from me ; then he uttered the greatest 
words he could utter on the occasion ; nevertheless 
not as I will but as thou wilt. How patiently he 
endured all his bitter sufferings, the cruel treatment 
of his enemies, even death itself. He showed no 
restleness, uttered not a murmuring word. He de- 
clined the stupifying draught when presented to him. 



119 

He went through the awful scene with magnanimi* 
ty. And while suffering the excruciating tortures 
ofthe ignominious death, he prayed for his unfeel- 
ing murderers ; and with his last breath expressed 
his confidence in God. Father into thy hand I 
commend my spirit !' This heavenly example, 
my friends, was left for our imitation. These suf- 
ferings were endured for our salvation. And will 
any who wish to be called his disciples sink under 
their light afflictions ; afflictions ordered by paternal 
love and designed to work out for them a far more 
exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory ? Go 
christian ! study the spotless example of your di- 
vine master ; make it the subject of your contem- 
plations, until you have imbibed much of his heav- 
enly spirit ; and let your life, your meekness and 
humility, your patience and resignation testify that 
you are indeed and in truth a consistent follower of 
the heavenly Jesus. 

5. Would you acquire christian resignation, you 
must fully realize that there is a future state of righ- 
teous retributions. The time of our earthly proba- 
tion will expire at the hour of death. Our bodies 
will be consigned to their kindred dust, and again 
subserve some useful purpose in the economy of the 
universe. Our minds, our souls, will arise, will en- 
ter the spiritual and invisible world, there to be 
judged according to the deeds done in the body, 
there to be happy or miserable according to the 
characters here formed. And while the impenitent 
must necessarily eat the fruit of their own doings, 



120 

the righteous will be blessed with an eternity of 
happiness in heavenly mansions, where the powers 
of the soul will forever expand, where the devout 
feelings of the heart will be called into constant ex- 
ercise, where all tears will be wiped away, where 
all pious friends will meet never again to separate, 
where no sin nor sorrow nor death can ever come ; 
but where the society will consist of the spirits of 
just men made perfect, of an innumerable company 
of angels, of Jesus the mediator of the new cove- 
nant and of God the; universal Father. 

Here christian, is an inexhaustible source of con- 
solation under ' all your sufferings ; a powerful 
incitement to the cultivation of a resigned and sub- 
missive spirit. For this doctrine assures you of 
another happy existence. You are assured that 
though you now suffer, either from poverty, or bodi- 
ly infirmities, or the misconduct of friends, or the dis- 
appointment of dearly cherished hopes, or subjec- 
tion to vicious propensities and sinful practices ; yet 
when this scene of trial and discipline has passed, 
you will be received into mansions of eternal glory, 
where nothing that can hurt or defile or grieve can 
enter. And though you are from time to time call- 
ed to part with friends beloved, yet you know your 
separation will be but short. In the path they have 
trod you must quickly follow. You will find them 
waiting on the shores of eternity to welcome you to 
their blessed abodes. Be ye not troubled, but ever 
remember, that while you attend their lifeless bodies 
to the grave, angels are conducting their souls to 



121 

the bosom of God, that while your eyes are suffus- 
ed with tears of sorrow, their spirits are swelled 
with joys unspeakable ; that while their funeral an- 
them trembles on your tongues, they are joining the 
angelic choirs in the song of redeeming love ; that 
while you are mingling your prayers with the pious 
on earth they are uniting with the countless millions 
of rausomed souls, in ascribing glory arra* honor, 
thanksgiving and praise to Him that sitteth on the 
throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. 

6. Would you acquire christian resignation, you 
must cultivate the habit of frequent and! fervent de- 
votion. A life of prayer is at all times essential to 
the christian character; and the inducements to its 
regular performance are numerous and weighty. 
But in an especial manner is it urged upon you as 
christians by the precepts and example of your ac- 
knowledged master. He lived a life of prayer. 
Yes; he prayed at his baptism. Before choosing his 
disciples he went into a mountain to pray. He took 
three of his disciples apart to pray immediately before 
his transfiguration. On the night which Judas be- 
trayed him, he fervently addressed God in the pre- 
sence of his disciples. During his memorable ago- 
ny in the garden, he prayed with uncommon intens- 
ness and perseverence. And while his murderers 
were nailing him to the accursed cross, be prayed 
even for their forgiveness; and at length expired 
with a devout commendation of his spirit to his Fath- 
er. His precepts are in unison with his example. 
In that day ye shall ask me nothing ; but whatsoev- 



122 

er ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will do it 
for you. Be persuaded then to look up to your 
ever present God at all times, but especially in sea- 
sons of adversity and affliction. This will most as- 
suredly aid you in acquiring the spirit of resignation. 
Thus, my friends, I have endeavored to show you 
the nature, importance and means of acquiring chris- 
tian resignation. Will you not be induced to use 
every possible exertion for the attainment of this vir- 
tuous and necessary disposition ? You are indeed 
urged by the most powerful motives. Would you 
avoid the miseries of this life and secure its happi- 
ness ? Would you be blessings to your friends and 
to the whole circle of your connexions? Would 
you be calm under all trials and ever possess a hea- 
ven in your own bosoms ? Then you will asiduous- 
ly cultivate christian resignation. Would you man- 
ifest your faith and confidence in the existence and 
paternal character of your creator ? Would you ex- 
hibit your filial affection for your unchangable friend 
and Father ? W r ould you show your gratitude to 
your constant and unfailing benefactor ? Would you 
discover your allegiance to your moral governor ? 
Then you will perseveringly strive to attain chris- 
tian resignation. Would you proclaim your belief 
in the anointed saviour ? and your cordial reception 
of his divine instructions ? and your practical admi- 
ration of his spotless example ? and your unreserved 
obedience to his salutary commands ? Then you will 
ever maintain a spirit of christian resignation. The 
language of your lips and lives will ever be, not my 
will but thine be done. 



SERMON X, 



GOD IS LOVE. 



JOHN, IV. 16. GOD IS LOVE. 



God is love. To this truth every thing around 
and within us bears ample and unequivocal testimo- 
ny. What but infinite benevolence could have 
prompted him, when perfectly happy in himself, to 
send into the boundless fields of space such an infi- 
nite variety of worlds ? What but this could have 
caused him to create man, and subject to his domin- 
ion this lower world, with its innumerable millions 
of the brute creation ? Nothing but infinite love. 
God must necessarily be a perfect being. And be- 
cause a perfect being, he must consequently be 
per ectly happy. Not then to increase his own 
happiness, has he given existence to men, but sole- 
ly for their happiness. Can this be doubted ? 

When you consider yourselves, the variety of ob- 
jects by which you are surrounded, your capacities 
and means of enjoyment, can you doubt that God 
made you for happiness ? Can you contemplate the 
heavens, the work of his fingers ; the sun which he 
has appointed to rule the day, shining in his strength ; 



124 

the moon which he has ordained to watch the night, 
walking in her brightness ; and the starry host with 
which the heavens are adorned, without being 
solemnly impressed that these wcrks of his power 
and wisdom were intended to increase your happi- 
ness ? Can you survey the beauties and blessings 
and wonders of nature ; the green carpet that covers 
the earth ; the variety of flowers and plants and trees 
that spring from her bosom ; the valleys clothed 
with the autumnal harvest ; the hills and plains cov- 
ered with flocks and herds; the waters stored with 
fish ; and the groves resounding v\ith the cheerful 
melody of the feathered songsters, without acknowl- 
edging that these unfailing pledges of his love are 
given for your happiness ? Can you consider the 
sublime operations of intellect ; the boundless stores 
of knowledge ; your means and capacities for hold- 
ing converse with the wise and great of past and 
present time; and your ability to soar beyond the 
bounds of earth on the wings of imagination, without 
confessing that these fruits of paternal love were de- 
signed solely for your happiness ? Can you experi- 
ence the delights of society and friendship and love; 
the tender charities of the domestic circle; the sat- 
isfaction of virtuous habits: and the smiles of an 
approving conscience, without knowing that these 
blessings of a Father's love make you happy ? Can 
you seriously meditate on the character of God; 
on the love and resurrection and gospel of his son ; 
on your destination to a future, a never ending state 
of existence ; can you enter the service of your 



125 

heavenly Father, give him the undivided homage of 
your souls, and hold sacred communion with the 
Eternal One, without feeling that he is love, that 
you were made for happiness, that you are happy ? 
O no. These are arguments which the power of 
sophistry can never shake. They stand as firm as 
the throne of heaven. 

But this is not all. God not only made man for 
happiness, but he has ever done what was consistent 
with his moral freedom to promote his happiness. 
When man had suffered the law that is in his mem- 
bers to triumph over the law that is in his mind ; 
when he had disobeyed the voice of conscience and 
fell from his primitive innocence ; when from a feel- 
ing of self-condemnation he had voluntarily with- 
drawn from spiritual worship, and consequently from 
pure happiness, his Maker had compassion on his 
self-inflicted misery ; he still loved him as before, 
and he took new measures to bring his wandering 
feet into the paths of peace. He called Abram, the 
father of the faithful, to separate from the prevailing 
idolatry and corruption ; and directed him to estab- 
lish the worship of the one true God of heaven and 
earth. He gave a promise that in him and his seed, 
all nations should be ultimately blessed. Afterward 
he revealed himself to Moses, the lawgiver and tem- 
poral Saviour of the Jewish nation; and continued 
his revelation at successive periods to the favored 
people by the holy prophets. This dispensation, 
though imperfect, being only the promise of better 
things to come, was sufficient to guide those to hap- 
12 



126 

piness who followed its glimmering light. Many 
followed and were happy, were blessed with pros- 
perity in life, and at a good old age were gathered 
to their fathers in peace. But the number of the 
faithful decreased, until the last breathings of ac- 
ceptable worship seemed vanishing from the earth. 
At this most proper season, this fullness of time, the 
Star of Bethlehem arose. The song of angels was 
heard in Juclea, proclaiming glory to God in the 
highest, and on earth peace, good will towards man; 
and announcing the birth of Jesus of Nazareth the 
Saviour of the world. 

At the age of thirty, when Jesus received baptism 
from his forerunner John, the holy spirit descended 
upon him without measure, and qualified him for 
his godlike undertaking. He then entered upon his 
public ministry ; and proved by his labors, his instruc- 
tions, his sufferings, his death, resurrection and as- 
cension, that he was sent by the Father to be the 
Saviour of the world. His labors w r ere abundant. 
He healed the sick, fed the hungry, comforted the 
sorrowful, cleansed the leprous, restored soundness 
to the lame, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, 
and life to the dead. His instructions were divine. 
He declared the paternal character and essential be- 
nignity of God, and the spirituality of his worship 
and kingdom. He gave motives and rules for the 
regulation of human conduct in all its relations ; and 
exemplified their happy influence in every scene of 
his eventful life. He has left for our instruction and 
consolation the words of eternal wisdom, and for our 
imitation a spotless example. His sufferings were 



127 

various and intense. He was exposed to the con- 
tradiction of sinners, he was borne down by the ago- 
nies of the garden^ he submitted to the ignominious 
and excruciating death of the cross. By his resur- 
rection our immortality is demonstrated, and by his 
ascension to our God and Father we are assured that 
mansions will be provided for all his followers. All 
his labors were performed, all his instructions were 
given, all his sufferings were endured, to rescue mail 
from ignorance, error, sin, misery and death, and to 
qualify him for present improvement and happiness 
and eternal felicity. Could anything but disinterest- 
ed love have prompted God to plan and Jesus to ex- 
ecute this dispensation of mercy and benevolence 5 
a dispensation intended solely for our* happiness ? 

And what has been the effect of the gospel dis- 
pensation ? Beneficial. Human happiness has been 
increased in the same degree in which this his divine 
religion has exerted its saving influence on the hearts 
and lives of individuals. And this influence has not 
been small. No. Notwithstanding the early cor- 
ruption of its primitive simplicity by its heathen con- 
verts, and the early perversion of its plainest doc- 
trines, duties and ordinances ; notwithstanding the 
long, dark night of monkish ignorance and papal su- 
perstition, and the unintelligible, nonsensical disputes 
of the schoolmen ; notwithstanding the oceans of in- 
nocent blood which its pretended friends have caus- 
ed to be shed in the days of persecution and holy 
warfare, and the unchristian spirit and immoral con- 
duct of its self-deceived' votaries ; notwithstanding the 



128 

scurrilous and witty and ingenious attacks of its ene- 
mies, and the mountain mass of creeds and confes- 
sions and formularies of faith which its fearful, mis- 
guided, zealous believers have heaped upon it, until 
its heaven-born form and spirit have nearly disap- 
peared ; notwithstanding all that it has suffered from 
friends and foes, it has not only survived and spread, 
but produced salutary and happy effects wherever it 
has been embraced. Its good effects have been 
proportioned to the degree of purity in which it has 
been received and obeyed. 

Yes ; when Jesus appeared on earth, mankind were 
sunk into the most deporable ignorance of everything 
relating to the existence and character of the one 
true God ; the nature and object of his moral gov- 
ernment ; his designs respecting his human family, 
and the performance of acceptable worship and , 
obedience. With a few exceptions, they were fall- 
en to the lowest depths of mental darkness and ser- 
vitude, tormented with the vilest superstitions, giv- 
en to the practice of the most abominable immorali- 
ties, and wedded to a system of the grossest idolatry ; 
and woman was the unhappy victim of domestic ty- 
ranny, servile drudgery, watchful jealousy, mental 
degradation and moral debasement. But thanks to 
Heaven, a spark of that divine love which emanated 
from the bosom of God, and shone with such bril- 
liancy in the character of Jesus, soon entered the 
soul of degraded man ; the celestial fire was kindled 
on the altar of his heart ; its heat and light spread 
a purifying influence far and wide, and an exten- 



129 

sire revolution in the moral and religious world en- 
sued. The worship of the one true God was re- 
sumed. The precepts of the Saviour were obeyed. 
The social and domestic affections were called into 
exercise. The benevolent sympathies of humanity 
were awakened. Hospitals and asylums for every 
species of misery have been their fruits. And wo- 
man was restored to that equal participation in the 
refined enjoyments of literature and religion, to that 
equal rank in society, and to that high place in the 
affections of man for which God designed her. 

And would you see more clearly the influence of 
Christianity on your social, domestic and religious 
enjoyments, you have only to compare the present 
social, domestic and religious state of India, the 
most enlightened of any unchristian nation, with that 
of your own favored community. If in imagination 
or reality, you visit her shores, you may see her fe- 
males debarred from all the delights of society and 
friendship, doomed to ignorance and hopeless servi- 
tude, and degraded to a state of mere animal exist- 
ence. You may see her living infants swelling the 
tide of the sacred ganges ; her living widows con- 
signed to the flames of a hellish superstition, and the 
sick and aged left to linger out the last hours of 
earthly existence, far from the attention of kindred 
and friends. You may see her temples of idol wor- 
ship polluted with the most loathsome and infernal 
practices, and stained with the blood of human 
victims. 

Your own community presents a different picture 
12* 



130 

for contemplation. Society is adorned by woman. 
Literature is enriched by the fruits of her intellect. 
The infant mind receives its first, its best, its most 
lasting impressions from her maternal care. And 
home is rendered a scene of the purest earthly hap- 
piness by her presence. The sickly infant is nur- 
tured with all the tenderness of a fond mother's af- 
fection ; and if her kindness and her prayers cannot 
save its life, its soul is entrusted to guardian angels 
for conveyance to the bosom of that ascended Sa- 
viour, who while on earth took little children into 
his arms and blessed them as the pure in heart. The 
bereaved widow finds consolation in the hour of ag- 
onizing sorrow, in the assurance of a happy reunion 
beyond the grave. The last hours of the sick and 
aged aie made as comfortable as the unwearied at- 
tentions and kind sympathies of filial affection and 
christian love can make them ; and when the mo- 
ment of dissolution arrives, their spirits are committed 
by the voice of christian faith to the hands of him 
who is unchangeable love. The temples of religion 
are consecrated to the worship of the one true God, 
the universal Father. Their doors are thrown open 
for the admission of all classes without distinction. 
The sacrifice most acceptable is the homage of con- 
trite and grateful and devout hearts. The instruc- 
tions there given are for the regulation of human 
conduct in all its relations. And the worshippers 
there learn to rejoice in the ennobling and inspiring 
belief, that after a faithful discharge of all their du- 
ties, in this state of suffering and enjoyment, they 



131 

shall enter upon an incorruptible existence, and unite 
with all the ransomed of the Lord, in offering a pur- 
er worship in temples not made with hands, eternal 
in the heavens. 

And now, my friends, if God is love, if he has 
created us for enjoyment, if he has provided all the 
means necessary for our happiness, why are we not 
more happy ? Because we do not love God and 
and keep his commandments. Because we do not 
receive Jesus'as our Saviour, and imitate his example. 
Because we are not thoroughly christian in our 
motives and dispositions and character. If any one 
is unhappy, the fault is his own. Be persuaded then 
to reform every thing amiss in your principles and 
conversation and conduct. Be exhorted to improve 
in all the christian graces and virtues. Be determin- 
ed to avoid every thing which is wrong, and practise 
every thing which is right. Then you will experi- 
ence that peace which the world can neither give 
nor take away. Then will you feel that God is 
love, 



SERMON XI. 

RELIGION THE ONE THING NEEDFUL. 
LUKE X. 42. ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. 

What is this one thing ? Religion. Yes ; a firm 
belief in the eternal existence and infinite perfections 
of our heavenly Father; a rational faith in the di- 
vine mission of our Saviour ; an habitual conformity 
■ to the requisitions of the gospel, and an unshaken 
confidence in its sublime promises. Such a belief 
and such a practice, such a character and such ex- 
pectations are absolutely necessary to secure our 
present happiness and qualify us for heavenly felici- 
ty. Let me then illustrate the necessity of religion 
in a few of the most important periods of our earthly 
existence. J| 

1. Religion is the one thing needful to render do- 
mestic life a scene of uninterrupted enjoyment. 
Marriage was designed by our heavenly Father to 
be a source of the most perfect temporal happiness ; 
and when the religion of Jesus exerts its governing 
and sanctifying influence od the heart and life, and 
causes the wedded pair to cultivate mutual friend- 
ship and affection ; to be uniformly kind and oblig- 



133 

ing, accommodating and forbearing, charitable and 
forgiving, patient and contented and cheerful, and 
truly devoted to the promotion of each other's wel- 
fare, this benevolent design is answered and this 
purest of earthly felicity is secured. But when this 
is not the case, as sometimes happens ; when 
those are united who have no correct knowledge 
of each other's characters ; whose tastes and habits 
and dispositions are unlike, and over whose feelings 
and passions and conduct, christian principles exer- 
cise no controlling power, — the wise plan of provi- 
dence is frustrated. Thence arise those complaints 
and criminations, that unkind treatment and aliena- 
tion of affection, which render this connexion a state 
of contention and discord and misery. 

But this is not all. The example of parents is 
ever carefully watched and imitated by their chil- 
dren. And if they habitually disregard the injunc- 
tions of the gospel ; if the words of profaneness and 
falsehood and passion often fall from their lips ; if 
the trifles of earth, the failings of acquaintances, the 
tales of passing scandal, the means and measures for 
acquiring popularity and wealth, and the follies and 
fashions and amusements of gay life constitute the 
chief subjects of conversation; if the supply of ani- 
mal wants, and the gatification of vain desires, and 
the promotion of temporal aggrandizement are made 
the principal objects of attention and pursuit ; if no 
decided respect is shown for undeviating rectitude 
and moral goodness ; if the word and ordinances of 
God are slighted, and they attend the sanctuary only 



134 

in conpliance with fashion or habit or a love of ex- 
citement and display ; if the christian instruction of 
their children is neglected ; if the good seeds of vir- 
tue and piety are never implanted in their tender 
minds ; if the pernicious weeds of vice and ungov- 
erned passion are suffered to spring up and flourish 
unchecked ; if they are permitted to resort to places 
of idleness and dissipation for amusement or com- 
panions ; after such an education, if they become 
useful and religious members of society, it will not 
be in consequence of the example and instruction of 
their parents. They may indeed, as some few have 
done, break the shackles of ignorance and irreli- 
gion and become ornaments in our christian com- 
munity. But this is scarcely probable. For they 
will be peculiarly exposed to so many and so pow- 
erful temptations ; to temptations from undisciplined 
passions and ungoverned desires, from thoughtless 
and profligate companions, from vice and infidelity 
in a thousand enticing forms, that there is danger, 
great danger, the greatest possible danger of their 
becoming pests to the community, scourges to their 
friends and curses to themselves. And all this would 
be but the natural consequence of the examples they 
have seen and imitated, the instructions they have 
received and followed, the principles they have im- 
bibed and obeyed, and the habits they have formed 
and strengthened while under the paternal roof. 

On the other hand, if the parents endeavor to reg- 
ulate their conduct and their household by the pre- 
cepts of religion, if they are kindly attentive to each 



135 

other's wishes and wants, mild and equable in their 
tempers, circumspect and amiable in their manners, 
true and candid and improving in their conversation ; 
if they manifest the sympathies of an expansive be- 
nevolence, and exhibit the fruits of genuine goodness 
and unaffected piety 5 if parental discipline and in- 
struction be added to this worthy example, and their 
offspring are early taught to obey the dictates of 
their parents and their conscience and their Maker -, 
if their risings of rebellious passion are checked and 
controlled, and they are aided in forming habits of 
truth, honesty, industry, self-government and virtue 5 
if they are assisted in cultivating cheerful, contented, 
generous, happy dispositions ; if they are instructed 
to look upon the honors, emoluments and pleasures 
of this world as uncertain, temporary and unsatisfy- 
ing, and upon christian goodness as the one thing 
truly essential to their happiness in every period 
of their existence ; if they are induced to believe 
that the religion of Jesus is a certain guide to peaee, 
usefulness, respectability, happiness and salvation, 
and that God is their ever present, all perfect, un- 
failing friend and Father ; if thus educated by pre- 
cept and example, they will be prepared for the evils 
that are in the world. And though they may leave 
the happy scenes of infancy and childhood with re- 
gret, they will soon secure the esteem of all who 
know them. They will be blessings to their friends 
and ornaments to society. And should they be 
greatly exposed to the influence of corrupting ex- 
ample, in the moment of strong temptation, if their 



136 

early impressions, their virtuous habits, their chris- 
tian principles will not save them from ruin, there is 
goo d hope that they will be saved by the remem- 
brance of a virtuous home ; by the recollection of a 
brother's affectionate warnings, a father's agitated 
.countenance, a sister's earnest entreaties, a fond moth- 
er's tears. If then you would have uninterrupted 
happiness in your family circle, you must cherish re- 
ligion on the domestic altar. Her heavenly influ- 
ence must purify your motives, refine your feelings, 
mould your dispositions, elevate your affections, dig- 
nify your conversation and direct your conduct. 
Then will you have felicity in your own bosoms, 
and the same blessing will rest upon your depend- 
ants and children. 

2. Religion is the one thing needful for our com- 
fort and support in the dark hour of adversity. We 
are in a world of continual change. Many are now 
low in misfortune who were once at the height of 
prosperity. This may be our condition. And when 
we are deprived of our competence or affluence, 
when we are slighted or deserted by the friends of 
our better fortunes, when the trials of poverty spread 
a gloom over our spirits, when the stern hand of jus- 
tice compels us to relinquish the comforts of domes- 
tic life, if in this dark and trying hour, we have not 
the consolations of religion, but are reproached by 
our past lives ; if we have been idle or dissipated, 
prodigal or covetous, proud or tyrannical, cruel or 
unjust ; if we have insulted the virtuous citizen, or 
defrauded the industrious laborer, or abused the 



137 

honest dependent, or driven from our presence the 
deserving object of charity ; if we have slighted the 
teachings of Jesus, and neglected the service and 
worship of God ; if this be our character, miserable 
indeed must be our condition ; we shall be destitute 
of that self-approving conscience, the loss of which 
all earthly things cannot supply ; and with the loss 
of this, we lose all the supports of religion. 

But on the other hand, when the storms of adver- 
sity press heavily upon us, whether we have fallen 
from affluence or competence, or have always lived 
in honest poverty, if we have been temperate and 
frugal and industrious in our habits ; if we have been 
honest and upright and open in our dealings ; if we 
have bestowed our charitable offerings on the poor 
and unfortunate ; if we have been meek and affable 
and unassuming in our deportment ; if we have cul- 
tivated, the graces and virtues of the christian charac- 
ter ; if we have devoted our powers and talents to the 
service of God ; if we have the approving testimony 
of our own minds in these things, we shall not be 
miserable. And let what will come ; let poverty 
beset us in its most appalling forms ; let every earth- 
ly friend forsake us ; we shall not be utterly forsak- 
en of happiness. We shall have that conscious in- 
tegrity, that moral purity, that religious elevation of 
soul, which will confer more exalted felicity than the 
world with all its blandishments can ever give, or 
with all its frowns can ever take away. And we 
shall have one friend who will never desert us, one 
friend who will always listen to our supplications, one 
13 



138 

almighty friend and Father who will cherish us in his 
own bosom long after this world and all its changing 
scenes shall have passed into oblivion. If then you 
would have comfort in adversity, you must lay its 
foundation in religion. You must ever let the hea- 
venly instructions of Jesus dwell on your minds, and 
be the governing principles of all your actions, until 
you become christians in faith and temper and prac- 
tice. And then you will be prepared to triumph, 
nay, to rejoice in adversity. 

3. Religion is the one thing needful to sustain the 
soul in the closing scene of earthly existence. We 
connect so many gloomy associations with the idea 
of death, the wasting sickness, the. watchings and 
tears of anxious friends, the distressing hour of se- 
parating, the ghastly corpse, the sable habiliments of 
mourning, the slow moving hearse, the dismal tolling 
of the bell, and the last agonising look, ere the object 
of affection is consigned to its kindred dust, as to 
render the subject peculiarly unwelcome to our 
minds. And when any circumstances forces our at- 
tention to the period of our own dissolution, we utter 
the hasty prayer. O let me die the death of the 
righteous, and let my last end be like his. And 
then we banish the chilling thought. 

But is death itself so much to be feared ? When 
I have seen the tender infant, sickening in its moth- 
er's arms, opening its entreating eyes, and raising 
its little hands for comfort, then drooping like a new 
mown flower, and without a struggle sinking into the 
sleep of death* with an angelic smile on its counte- 



139 

nance, I have asked, Is this death ? It is ; but 
here it has no terrors. And when I have watched 
the gradual decline of the devoted and youthful 
wife, the fond and affectionate mother, whose attach- 
ments to earth were many and powerful and whose 
worldly prospects were bright and alluring, and 
kngwn her to make every necessary arrangement for 
her own burial and for the welfare of her family 
with the utmost composure and calmness, and wit- 
nessed her affecting imitation of the example of the 
dying Jesus in commending her rising soul to the 
hands of her ever present Father, and observed her 
peaceful and exulting triumph over the power of the 
universal destroyer, I have asked, Is this death? It is ; 
but even here it creates no fear or alarm or suffering. 
And when I have stood beside the dying minister of 
Christ, whose head was white with the snows of 
more than eighty winters, and heard him pour forth 
fervent gratitude for the manifold blessings of his 
long life, and joyfully call upon his paternal Creator 
to receive his departing spirit, and beheld the last 
flickerings of the lamp of life before it was extin- 
guished, I have asked, Is this death ? It is ; but no 
more frightful than the setting of the summer's sun. 
But when I have seen one in the strength of man- 
hood, who had lived as he listed, and sneered at the 
realities of religion, suddenly prostrated on a bed 
of extreme suffering, and while the fatal disease was 
fast preying on his earthly frame, heard him calling 
for the consolations of the gospel, because con- 
science, an awakened, accusing, condemning con- 



140 

science had kindled a hell in his soul ten times hot- 
ter than his burning tormenting fever, and after 
much bodily and mental anguish, noticed the con- 
tortions of agony which a miserable death had left 
on his features, I have asked, Is this death ? It is 
indeed death ; and it is death with all its terrors. I 
know not what death is. I fear not the death of ihe 
innocent or the righteous. But I do know whar is 
the sting of death. It is sin. And I shall unceas- 
ingly pray to be delivered from again witnessing the 
frightful death of the impenitent sinner. 

Yes, my friends, let a man lead a wicked, and ir- 
religious life, and when brought upon the bed of 
death, if reason keeps her seat, and conscience is 
faithful in her duty, his last hours may well inspire 
us with dread. He cannot quench the hell burning 
in his own soul with all the sophistical reasonings of 
error and infidelity. The consciousness of past 
wickedness, the torment of present depravity, and 
the fear of punishment hereafter, will be his bosom 
companions. And it will not be in the power of any 
creed either christian or heathen to relieve his men- 
tal agony. No. It is religion alone, the recollec- 
tion of a well spent life, the possession of christian 
virtues, a well grounded hope of future felicity, and 
an unwavering confidence in the infinite Father ; it 
is these and nothing but these that can smooth the 
pillow of death and destroy its sting. But with 
these, with the innocence and purity of childhood, 
with the character of goodness and piety, death is 
not to be feared. Its bodily pangs, even when most 



141 

excruciating, can be of but short duration. Its ap- 
palling associations can be banished by the force of 
reason and reflection, its terrors can be dissipated 
by the cheering light of the gospel, and it becomes 
the door of admission to regions of glory and eternal 
blessedness. If then you would have support when 
called to walk through the dark valley of the shadow 
of death, you must prepare for it now. You must 
make religion your friend. You must live soberly 
and righteously and godly in the present world. 
And when your earthly pilgrimage closes, no matter 
how few or how many seasons have rolled over your 
heads, you will be enabled to meet the summons of 
death with a smile. With triumphant hope you will 
thus exclaim, I have fought a good fight. I have 
kept the faith. I have finished my course. I am 
hastening to the bosom of my Father. O grave, 
where is thy victory ! O death, where is thy sting ! 
13* 



SERMON XII. 



GUILT OF SEEKING RICHESBY SINFUL MEANS. 

PROVERBS XXVIII. 20. HE THAT MAKETH HASTE TO BE RICH 
SHALL NOT BE INNOCENT. 

Riches are desirable. They aid in the great work 
of human improvement. They are necessary to 
complete the means of intellectual and moral and re- 
ligious instruction. They are essential to the pro- 
gress of civilization and refinement. They are bless- 
ings. It is our duty therefore to strive for their ac- 
quisition by all fair exertions. We are bound by 
the very laws of our nature to make suitable provis- 
ion for our animal and mental wants, and to occupy 
every talent we possess for the promotion of human 
enjoyment. We are also commanded to labor with 
all diligence, to perform with zeal whatever is to be 
done, to provide faithfully for our families and 
friends, to gather up all fragments so that nothing be 
lost, and to do good unto all men as we have oppor- 
tunity. Consequently, reason and revelation regard 
ricbes as desirable and useful, and make it our 
imperious duty to strive for their acquisition. But 
this is not the whole of the story. For riches, like 
every other blessing, may be abused. And when 



143 

the love of wealth becomes excessive, when it 
gives rise to worldliness, dishonesty, dissipation, 
quarrelling, theft, robbery or murder, it is surely 
the root of many evils. And those who yield 
themselves slaves to this passion cannot be easily 
induced to become pious and practical christians. 
It is therefore equally the dictate of reason and reli- 
gion that there is great evil in the inordinate love of 
riches; great wickedness in adopting unlawful meas- 
ures for their acquisition, and great depravity in de- 
voting them to sinful purposes. Let me then de- 
scribe some of the more common ways in which 
people make haste to be rich, and mention the perni- 
cious consequences of such courses. 

1. The first method for the sudden acquisition of 
riches which I shall notice is this; the purchase of 
lottery tickets. Now I do not assert that there is 
anything sinful either in obtaining a ticket, or in re- 
ceiving a prize when drawn. But 1 do affirm that 
this mode of seeking for wealth is followed by perni- 
cious consequences. Yes ; you do actually find 
some individuals who spend their daily wages for 
lottery tickets, when their families are really suffer- 
ing for the necessaries and conveniences of life. 
Consequently they violate their obligations to pro- 
vide for their own households, and are therefore 
worse than heathen. You observe others who ex- 
pend their whole income for tickets, and at the same 
time refuse to pay their honest debts. Of course, 
they, practise a species of deception upon their law- 
ful creditors. You notice a third class who pay that 



144 

money for tickets, which ought to be appropriated 
to other and better purposes ; to the education of 
children, social and domestic comfort, or charitable 
institutions. And therefore they prove unjust to 
themselves, to their families, and to society. In the 
mean time, you will recollect that these ticket pur- 
chasers have their minds so occupied about the proba- 
bilities of their success, that they waste many hours 
in idleness, suspense, castle-building, painful anxiety 
or dissipation. You will also recollect, that scarce- 
ly one in a thousand ever draws a decent prize. 
You are indeed assured that there are but three 
blanks to one prize. But your own observation must 
have convinced you that there are more than three 
thousand blanks to one prize of value. And when 
such purchasers are disappointed, they not unfre- 
quently give themselves up to peevishness, dejection, 
despair, or iniquity. And how much are those few 
benefited who draw the higher and more valuable 
prizes ? Probably as many as nine in ten of this 
class are ruined, body and soul, by their sudden pros- 
perity. Some give themselves to immediate dissi- 
pation, and soon terminate their career in disgrace 
and wretchedness. Others lay aside their useful 
occupations, and adopt a style of such extravagant 
living, as soon reduces them to abject poverty. 
Others again enter largely and rashly into business 
with which they are unacquainted, and through igno- 
rance soon lose what they so suddenly acquired. 
And few, very few, have exercised sufficient prudence 
to make a proper use of their gifts of fortune. Not 



145 

only so. Towns are injured by this kind of gaming 
as well as individuals. Let a thousand dollars be 
drawn in this place, a knowledge of the fact would 
induce many others to try their luck in the same 
way, until ten times that sum was foolishly wasted, 
and the village proportionably impoverished. Such 
then are some of the natural and pernicious conse- 
quences of endeavoring to acquire sudden riches by 
purchasing lottery tickets. I am confident you will 
not consider this an exaggerated statement. Must 
we not conclude then that this is not an innocent 
"way of obtaining property ? Will you not all deter- 
mine to avoid a practice which is fraught with such 
private and public evils? I conceive there is but 
one safe course for you to pursue in regard to this 
subject. When a lottery is opened for some good 
object, and you have money to give away, without 
interfering with the claims of justice or charity, and 
you can make the sacrifice without one unpleasant 
feeling or one anxious thought, then you may inno- 
cently appropriate your funds to the purchase of lot- 
tery tickets, and not until then. And with most of 
us, such a time can never come. Consequently we 
can never make haste to be rich in this dangerous 
and pernicious practice. 

2. The second method for the sudden acquisition 
of riches which I shall consider is this ; playing at 
games of skill and chance. And here again I would 
not assert that there is any thing sinful in merely 
playing the game. But can you innocently receive 
the money you may happen to win I think not. 



146 

I believe there are but two lawful and right ways of 
obtaining property. It may be presented to you as 
a free gift, or you must return some equivalent for 
the value received. Now I trust you will not pre- 
tend that money received in gaming is acquired in 
either of these ways. For no gamester ever took 
his seat at the table to play with the intention of giving 
his property to his antagonist; and surely no equiva- 
lent is returned for the amount thus taken. You 
also know that our laws look upon this practice as 
criminal, and, in some of the states, the loser may 
recover the sum lost as money fraudulently obtained 
by the winner. But this is merely the beginning 
of evils. For gaming leads to the most appalling 
consequences. In most individuals, it entices them 
to anger and resentment, profaneness and falsehood, 
intemperance and debauchery, the neglect of per- 
sonal and domestic and social duties. In many per- 
sons it destroys reputation, character, usefulness, in- 
fluence, family peace and prosperity, and everything 
honorable and praiseworthy. You well know that 
more or fewer of these evils attend sooner or later 
upon almost every professed gamester. But allow- 
ing that a kw escape some of the more glaring vices, 
do they ever continue long to be men of wealth and 
moral worth ? Can you select from all you have 
ever known five individuals in the decline of life 
who are regarded as men of virtue, integrity and 
piety ? Can you name even one individual who 
has given himself to this detestable vice, who exhib- 
its the character of a good husband and father, a 



147 

good friend and neighbor, a good citizen and chris- 
tian ? There may be such instances, but I have 
never known a single example. Besides these per- 
sonal and domestic evils, such a practice is exceed- 
ingly infectious and contaminating. For if this is a 
right and proper way for one to obtain riches, it is 
equally right and proper for all men. Suppose then 
you were all to leave your respective callings, and 
begin the business of gambling. How r long would 
you continue before your village would be converted 
into a perfect hell ? No ; providence never ordain- 
ed this as one of the means of securing and honest 
subsistence. We are made for some mental or 
bodily labor. And society can never exist, proper- 
ty can never be accumulated, happiness can never 
be enjoyed, unless each one confines himself to some 
honest employment. Consequently no one can in- 
nocently make haste to be rich by gaming. It 
therefore becomes our serious duty to avoid this 
method ourselves, and to use all rational and friend- 
ly and energetic means to prevent others from ruin- 
ing themselves and their friends by this fascinating, 
polluting, corrupting, degrading, destructive vice. 

3. The third method for the sudden acquisition 
of riches which I shall now examine is this ; defraud- 
ing lawful creditors. You know that men some- 
times commence business under favorable auspices, 
obtain a considerable amount of property on credit, 
secrete a large portion of their wealth, and then stop 
payment. They are willing to turn out the remain- 
der of their merchandize, or to pay so much on a 



148 

dollar. As the creditors cannot readily adopt any 
measures for securing their whole debt, they gene- 
rally feel compelled to receive what is offered, rath- 
er than lose the total amount. Being thus discharged 
by their creditors, they either commence business 
again with considerable capital thus fraudulently 
obtained, or live in idleness and perhaps luxury on 
the interest of their ill-gotten wealth. Now I do not 
think this method of acquiring riches is often adopted 
in the country, nor half so often in cities as is gen- 
erally imagined. But it is undoubtedly practised in 
some instances, and therefore deserves a passing no- 
tice in this connexion. And while those who fail 
through the pressure of the times, or some innocent 
miscalculation, or some unavoidable misfortune, are 
deserving our sympathy and generosity, those who 
fail to make money are deserving universal contempt 
and reprobation. For how does this measure differ 
from downright theft ? It is equally wrong in the 
sight of heaven and in the view of all honorable men. 
And its practice is really more pernicious to the 
community. For the thief is regarded as an enemy 
to all law and order end honesty, and is justly driven 
and hunted from all reputable society. But the 
honorable swindler is allowed to go at large, and 
pursue that species of robbery which must naturally 
destroy all mutual confidence, and undermine the 
very foundation of all proper commercial intercourse. 
When justice shall be more perfectly administered, 
some solitary cells in the state prison will be appro- 
priated to the special use of all such unprincipled 



149 

defrauders. They now receive a good share of 
punishment for their unrighteous deeds, although they 
escape the penalty of the civil law. For they are 
uniformly regarded and mentioned as destitute of 
principle or honor. They are looked upon with 
distrust. Little or no confidence is placed in their 
word. And with all this they are perfectly acquain- 
ted. For their own conscience is constantly remind- 
ing them of their iniquity. They also feel as if their 
baseness was known to all around them, as if it en- 
tered as largely into the thoughts of others as their 
own, as if all their acquaintances pitied or despised 
them. And even this is not all ; for although they 
may succeed in obtaining some riches in this wicked 
method, and thus be enabled to secure the conveni- 
encies and elegances of life, they can possess no in- 
ward peace of mind. A worm is continually gnaw- 
ing at the root of their enjoyment. Their bosoms 
are filled with fears and terrors. They have lost all 
self-respect, and actually despise themselves. They 
have no sympathy with the honorable and vir- 
tuous. In every season of danger their alarm is pain- 
ful and overwhelming. And the approach of death 
finds them in the greatest consternation, because they 
cannot look back upon such transactions with any 
feelings but shame and remorse, and because a con- 
sciousness of their guilt harrows up the anguish of their 
souls and fills them with the most fearful forebodings of 
future misery. Is it not evident then that riches ob- 
tained by defrauding lawful creditors will give no sat- 
isfaction, but prove a constant source of uneasiness 
14 



150 

and wretchedness? And if so, no rational man will 
hasten to become rich in tnis manner. 

4. A fourth method for the sudden acquisition of 
riches which I shall now describe is this ; dishonesty. 
This is a very extensive topic, and one with which I 
have no great acquaintance. I merely know that 
unfair means for securing wealth are occasionally 
adopted in almost every occupation and profession. 
All men wish to obtain a subsistence, and many are 
seeking for something more. Some of the number 
may always be mentioned who are ready to resort 
to any measures for the acquisition of property which 
public opinion and the laws of the land will admit, 
without any further regard to the rectitude of the 
plans adopted. But all the dishonest are sooner or 
later punished by their iniquity. For in the first 
place, they are acquainted with their own guilt. 
They know the difference between right and wrong. 
Although the fraud they practise may be generally 
practised, they feel self-condemned. They know they 
are not doing unto others as they would have others 
do unto them. And consequently they are incessant- 
ly tormented by a consciousness of sinful dealing. 
In the second place, they gradually lose public con- 
fidence and eventually its patronage. The laborer 
may slight his task ; he may be altogether an eye 
servant, and he may imagine his deception is un- 
known, because his employer has never found fault 
with his labors. But he may rest assured that his 
unfaithfulness will be discovered, and his place sup- 
plied with another, as soon as circumstances will per- 



151 

anit. He will then be discharged in disgrace, and 
thrown upon society without testimonials' of his worth, 
and therefore the best situations cannot be obtained. 
The mechanic may slight, a piece of work, or the 
merchant may deceive in the quality or quantity of 
the goods sold ; they may think their profits are great, 
because they have heard no complaint of the bargains. 
But the cheated whisper the fact to one neighbor and 
another ; they soon withdraw their custom, and in- 
duce others to do the same ; so that what was at first 
considered a lucrative business, eventually proves to 
be a serious loss. And so in every occupation. 
Dishonesty is sooner or later detected. And while 
all honorable men are willing that others should 
receive fair wages for their labors, and a suitable 
income from their merchandize, none of the re- 
spectable will knowingly encourage dishonest prac- 
tices. And finally, all this class are sooner or later, 
disturbed by the compunctions of an accusing con- 
science. All men have their hours of serious reflec- 
tion, and no one can review a life of dishonest gain 
without experiencing the most distressing mental an- 
guish. An example directly to the purpose came 
to my knowledge a few years since. The individu- 
al was past the meridian of life. He lived in an 
elegant and handsomely furnished dwelling. He was 
surrounded by extensive and highly cultivated lands. 
He had money at interest. His family were virtu- 
ous and accomplished. An old acquaintance passed 
a sabbath in his domestic circle ; and after a full 
survey of all his possessions and luxuries, he address- 



152 

ed him in the following terms. ' My friend, you 
have every thing heart can desire ; and there seems 
to be nothing wanting to complete your happiness.' 
1 O,' said the individual addressed, ( so it may ap- 
pear to you. But you are greatly mistaken in your 
estimate. How did I obtain this wealth ? Why, I 
kept a store. I trusted my neighbors to every thing 
they desired, and especially to large quantities of ar- 
dent spirits. I took a mortgage on their several 
farms for security, and as they could not redeem 
them at the proper time, I received them into my 
possession. Several of the original proprietors died 
in poverty and intemperance. Their families are 
broken up and scattered. I now look back with 
pain upon my past conduct. With all my riches I 
am continually miserable. My conscience is an un- 
ceasing tormentor.' Now I have no doubt many 
others may be found in a similar predicament ; and 
such must ever be the painful consequences of every 
species of dishonesty. Riches obtained by sinful 
means can never confer happiness on their possessor. 
I trust you will all therefore conclude that honesty is 
the best policy. Be determined then to practise no 
fraud in your several occupations ; and never at- 
tempt to increase your property except by honesty. 
5. The last method for the sudden acquisition of 
riches which I shall consider is this ; exclusive at- 
tention to worldly business. I do not suppose many 
present are in very great danger of adopting the 
measures for the sudden acquisition of wealth which 
I have already described. Neither have I mention- 



153 

©d theft, piracy, robbery or murder, because I could 
not believe any one of this assembly would ever be 
guilty of such abandoned wickedness. But I do 
fear that most of us are tempted to pursue the 
course last noticed. I do think that we are in dan- 
ger of devoting too exclusive attention to the acqui- 
sition of riches, to the fatal neglect of our spiritual 
interests. We are so constituted that religion is ab- 
solutely necessary to our present enjoyment. And 
if we give our whole souls to the objects of time ; if 
we banish from our hearts all thoughts of our hea- 
venly Father ; if we neglect all the peculiar and en- 
nobling duties of the gospel ; if we are ignorant of 
the precepts and consolations of Christianity, we do 
not secure those comforts which are truly essential 
to our well being and happiness in this world. We 
may not feel our deficiencies so sensibly in seasons 
of health and prosperity. But we are in a changing 
scene. Adversity will come sooner or later. Yea, 
reproach, and disappointment, and trial, and sickness, 
and affliction ; and in these times of need our earth- 
ly treasures cannot yield us the support we desire. 
And before long we shall all be called to bid 
farewell to all things below. The want of christian 
characters, and consolations, and hopes will then 
occasion the utmost distress. Ministers are not un- 
frequently obliged to listen to the dying confessions 
of the worldly minded ; confessions which are not 
imparted even to the nearest friends. And I trust 
no one will accuse me of betraying the sacredness of 
our trust, if I disclose a faint view of their last rao- 
14* 



154 

ments for the special benefit of the living. It is no 
uncommon occurrence to hear such observations as 
the following. <I am in great distress of mind. I 
have not indeed been guilty of gross immorality or 
heinous wickedness. I endeavored to make tempo- 
ral provision for myself and family. I thought the 
future would afford sufficient lime for the peculiar 
duties of religion. I have accordingly neglected 
attention to the subject until it is now too late. I 
sincerely lament my error. I am convinced that I 
pursued the wrong course. I am destitute of those 
clear views of the gospel, and those christian affec- 
tions, and those animating hopes, which now seem 
necessary to my support and felicity. I now wish, 
but too vainly wish, I had acquired that strong love 
for my Father, and that living faith in my Saviour, 
and that pure and holy character which would prove 
an anchor to my soul. My usefulness would have 
been enlarged. My example would have been more 
worthy of imitation. My enjoyments would have 
been greater. And my last moments would not 
have been embittered by these painful remem- 
brances. Gladly would I now give the fruits of all 
my labors for the christian's condition !' Some- 
thing of this character is often spoken by those who 
have made this world their only good. And per- 
mit me to assure you all, that such will be your 
thoughts, and feelings, and words, if you pursue the 
same irreligious course. How unwise then to neg- 
lect the one thing needful for these riches which 
perish with the using. Seek first the kingdom of 



155 

God and his righteousness,' and all these things shall 
be added unto you. 

Such, my friends, are some of the unlawful meth- 
ods more commonly adopted for the hasty acquisition 
of riches. Let our subject then be clearly under- 
stood. You are to consider riches as desirable bles- 
sings, and to strive lawfully for their acquisition, and 
to devote them when obtained to the glory of God 
and the good of mankind. But if you practice any 
dishonest or unfair acts for their acquisition, or de- 
vote your property to sinful purposes, you become 
exceedingly guilty, and must be sooner of later pun- 
ished by your iniquities. Seek then for wealth by 
undeviating honesty, rational economy and perse- 
vering industry. And above all, seek diligently for 
those imperishable riches which will make you hap- 
py on earth, and qualify you for endless felicity in 
heaven, 



SERMON XIII. 



BENEFIT OF AFFLICTIONS. 

PSALMS CX1X. 71. IT IS GOOD FOR ME THAT I HATE BEEN 
AFFLICTED. 

We know very little of real grief until we have 
been called to part with some endeared friend. We 
may indeed witness the sorrows of our neighbors ; 
we may truly sympathize in their bereavements, and 
we may conclude we have felt something of the se- 
verity of affliction. But when death enters our own 
doors, and takes from our sight those who have become 
endeared by all the ties of association and friendship, 
we discover our mistake. We then experience feel- 
ings which never before pained our hearts. We 
then realize the bitterness of grief, and are almost 
ready to sink under the burden of our afflictions. 
But the voice of religion whispers peace and conso- 
lation. It teaches us that our trials are ordered in 
love and designed to benefit our souls. Let us then 
enquire in what way the loss of friends is calculated 
to do us good. 

1. The loss of friends benefits our souls by 
reminding us of our dependence on our heavenly 
Father. When we and our relatives are in health, 
when our exertions are crowned with desired 



157 

success, when the world smiles on oar labors, 
we are prone to forget our dependence on that be- 
ing who gave us existence and all our powers, who 
loves us as his offspring with an infinite affection, who 
has always upheld and supported us in life, who is 
the author and giver of all our blessings, and who 
has never forgotten us for a moment. In such sea- 
sons of prosperity our thoughts are too apt to be con- 
fined to ourselves and our private interests, to the 
engaging pursuits and concerns of time, to plans and 
exertions for securing the treasures and honors and 
enjoyments of this world. And amidst so many pre- 
sent comforts and engagements, so many desired 
and anticipated pleasures, so many animating hopes 
and prospects, we become almost wholly unmindful 
of the original fountain of all our success and happi- 
ness. 

But when death enters our family circle, and lays 
prostrate some beloved member, and the anguish of 
a bereaved heart fills our eyes with tears of sorrow, 
our minds naturally revert to our ever living and ev- 
er present Father, the bestower and destroyer of our 
comforts^ the supreme arbiter of life and death. 
The distressing event suggests such thoughts and re- 
flections as are calculated to afford us consolation and 
improvement. We then recollect that our heaven- 
ly parent is infinite love, that he regards all his chil- 
dren with paternal tenderness, that he never afflicts 
in anger or wrath or resentment, but in benevolence 
and for the best good of all concerned. We also re- 
member, that .he has been constantly showering the 



158 

most necessary, valuable, precious favors upon our 
unworthy heads. Such reminiscences remind us of 
our past forgetfulness, ingratitude and disobedience. 
We sensibly realize that our Father has never for- 
saken us, though we have been unmindful of his care 
and blessings. We feel that he has been our unfail- 
ing benefactor, though we have rendered no thanks- 
givings for his unmerited favors. We are conscious 
that he has been unto us a most tender parent, though 
we have been disobedient children. We conclude 
that he has a perfect right to do with us and ours as 
he pleases, and that he may withdraw our dearest 
mercies when he sees best for the benefit of all con- 
cerned. Such are some of the thoughts concerning 
our heavenly Father which death naturally suggests 
to our minds. 

Let all the afflicted then cherish these good im- 
pressions. Let them influence you to a more per- 
fect imitation of the christian pattern. Resolve to 
render supreme love to your heavenly Father, who 
loves you as his offspring, who is daily giving you 
proofs of his affection, who will ever order the events 
of your lives in wisdom and goodness, and who will 
never leave nor forsake those who confide in his per- 
fections. Not only resolve, but enter upon the imme- 
diate execution of your resolutions. Let your sin- 
cere devotions daily ascend to the throne of heaven 
from the secret closets of your own minds. Daily 
meditate on the works of the Almighty around you, 
and on his character and government. Daily exam- 
ine the records of his holy will, and carefully com-- 



159 

pare yourselves with its divine requisitions. Daily 
endeavor to become perfect even as he is perfect, 
and thus prove yourselves his obedient children. 
Do this and the design of providence in the removal 
of your friends will be answered. For your hearts 
will be benefitted, your characters will be improved, 
your happiness will be increased, your preparation 
for the further trials of this changing scene will be 
strengthened,, you will find by joyful experience 
that it has been good for you to have been afflicted. 
2. The loss of friends benefits our souls by re- 
minding us of our obligations to our Saviour. When: 
the circle of our relatives is unbroken, when neither the 
decays of nature nor the diseases of death have made 
inroads upon our constitution, when the world holds 
out its alluring vanities to our view, we seem to im- 
agine that our companions will always bless our sight, 
and our health always remain unimpaired, and the 
world always satisfy our desires. And in accordance 
with our bright anticipations we proceed to lay our 
plans for the future, to make our calculations and 
employ our powers as if this earth were our final 
home, as if temporal gratifications would always give 
interest and delight and forever satisfy the cravings 
of our immortal spirits, as if there were no greater 
joys than this changing scene offers to our search. 
And thus we become deeply interested in present 
objects, and strongly attached to this world's comforts, 
and forgetful of the claims of Jesus. We seem to 
expect that the perishing materials around us will 
yield substantial and permanent felicity, and that the 
supports of religion will never be needed. 



160 

But when our friends are called to bid us farewell, 
and we follow their mouldering remains to the house 
appointed for all living, and there see them placed 
forever beyond the reach of our mortal sight, we are 
greatly troubled in spirit. We cannot endure the 
thought of everlasting separation. We cannot bring 
our feelings to pronounce a final adieu. And in the 
agony of our grief we enquire, if this is the last we 
are ever to behold of our departed associates ? if it 
be possible that all the loveliness, and affection, and 
intelligence of the endeared relative ? if it be possi- 
ble that all which gave interest and worth and beauty 
to the decaying body, can be confined by the clods 
of the valley.' In this moment of deep anxiety, of 
painful doubt, of agonizing fear, the voice of Jesus 
bursts upon our hearing, I am the resurrection and 
the life. He that believeth on me shall never die. 
In my Father's house are many mansions, and where 
I am there ye shall be also. In such a time of need 
this gracious friend interposes to relieve our wretch- 
edness, to solve our difficulties, to dissipate our fore- 
bodings, to assure us of a future existence beyond 
the grave, and to confirm us in the animating belief 
of a happy reunion of all the ransomed of the Lord. 
Such are some of the thoughts and reflections con- 
nected with our Saviour which the death of our 
friends naturally suggests to our minds. 

Cherish these good impressions, all ye afflicted. 
They will lead you to become better acquainted with 
the life and instructions and death of the commission- 
ed Jesus. You will turn to the sacred record, and 



161 

trace your chosen master from his baptism by John, 
through a series of labors and trials and sorrows, to his 
agonizing conflict in the garden. You will follow 
him from the council chamber of Pilate to the fatal 
cross, and there behold him deliver up his pure spir- 
it into the hands of his God and Father. You will 
accompany his lifeless and mangled body to the new 
stone sepulchre, and there see the tomb secured, 
not merely by a great rock, but by an invincible Ro- 
man soldiery. With the affectionate female disci- 
ples you will be at the grave early on the morning 
of the third day ; and you will then feel convinced 
that the condemned., deserted, crucified son of Mary 
is really the son of the living God, that death has no 
power over him, that the Saviour of the world and 
the pledge of our immortality is indeed risen from 
the slumbers of the grave. If you then inquire into 
the cause of this display of divine power and love, you 
learn that all this has been done for your benefit ; to 
deliver you from ignorance, error, sin and wretched- 
ness. And if your hearts are not harder than the 
rocks which burst at his crucifixion, you will resolve 
to render unto him your gratitude for his disinter- 
ested sacrifices and services. You will prove your- 
selves his pupils by receiving him as your infallible 
teacher, in obeying him as your commissioned mas- 
ter, in imitating him as your exemplar, and by cher- 
ishing much of his heavenly temper. If you thus 
do, the design of the afflictive dispensation will be 
answered. Your christian faith will be strengthened 
and purified. Your zeal in the divine life will be 
15 



- 162 

quickened and encouraged. Your hopes of a hea- 
venly inheritance will be elevated and brightened.. 
And your confidence in a happy reunion with your 
virtuous friends become unshaken and immoveable. 
3. The loss of friends benefits our souls by re- 
minding us of the absolute necessity and unspeaka- 
ble value of religion. There are times when we 
think too much and too highly of earthly objects,- 
when we look for nothing better or more durable 
than this world furnishes, when we put far from us 
the evil day and postpone our attention to duty until 
a more convenient season. But this delusion may 
be dissipated at the death bed of our friends. For 
we there see the vanity, the impotency of all earth- 
ly possessions. We there learn that nothing tem- 
poral can give peace in a dying hour. Religion is 
the only thing that can impart calmness, resignation, 
cheerfulness, and triumphant joy to the departing 
soul. Yes; a consciousness of having endeavored 
to live a sober, righteous and godly life ; a firm 
confidence in the love of an ever present and un- 
changeable Father ; an\mwavering faith in the bless- 
ed promises of Jesus ; a cheering assurance of a hap- 
py reunion with departed friends, and the sure ex- 
pectation of a glorious immortality of felicity and im- 
provement ; these are the only things which can in- 
sure real support and triumphant joy to the dying. 
When therefore we witness the insufficiency of any 
temporal gratifications to give the needed assistance 
to the undying mind, we lose our confidence in this 
world's gifts, We realize that we can carry none 



163 

of them with us. We are satisfied they can afford 
us no help in the hour of our greatest need. We 
become sensible that they are deceitful in their prom- 
ises, transient in their duration, and fading in their 
nature. From such admonitions of the instability 
and emptiness of all earthly possessions, we are in- 
duced to look in upon ourselves, to inquire if our 
past lives have been such as to yield us satisfaction 
in the review-, if our present characters are such as 
to enable us to enter the presence of our Father in 
joy, if our faith and hope are sufficient to triumph 
over death and the grave. And as we examine in- 
to the past and present state of our hearts, we be- 
come conscious of our manifold deficiences. We 
are convinced that we have omitted many important 
duties, and committed many serious offences. We 
then resolve to amend our characters, to be earnest- 
ly engaged in the great work of salvation. Such are 
some of the thoughts which death is calculated to 
excite in our bosoms. 

Let the afflicted cherish these good impressions. 
Resolve to be more engaged in securing a high degree 
of christian goodness. Compare yourselves with the 
example and requisitions of Jesus, and thus learn 
your deficiencies ; what duties you have neglected, 
what sins committed, what evil habits contracted, 
what sinful dispositions cherished, what erroneous 
opinions embraced. Having ascertained your fail- 
ings, you will look for divine assistance to enable you 
to cherish pious affections and devout feelings, to sub- 
due and banish undisciplined tempers and passions, 



164 

to break off long indulged practices, and to practise 
long neglected duties. Persevere in this glorious 
undertaking and success will attend every strenuous 
effort for self-improvement. And when you have 
established a christian character, you would not ex- 
change your religious dispositions, principles, habits 
and hopes for any earthly good. Are not afflic- 
tions then well calculated to benefit your souls, to 
make you wiser, holier and happier ? 

God grant that these rich and everlasting benefits 
may result to all the afflicted. And let us all ask if 
our various bereavements have produced their des- 
tined effects upon our character. Have they turned 
our souls more fully to the love and service of our 
heavenly Father, to the obedience and imitation 
of the divine Saviour, and to the practice of pure 
and undefiled religion ? If they have, our charac- 
acters have been improved and the divine dispensa- 
tions wisely observed. If they have not, we have 
probably been driven to greater depravity, by slight- 
ing the warnings of Heaven. Be persuaded to re- 
form all deficiencies and imperfections, and ever en- 
deavor to improve all your afflictions to the glory of 
the Most High. 



SERMON XIV. 

PREPARATION FOR DEATH. 
AMOS IV. 12. — PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD. 

Have we any security for our life ? If so, in 
what does it consist ? Do any put their trust in 
youth ? Look among your youthful friends. Is 
not their number diminished ? Have you not 
known one and another, in the bright morning 
ol their days, in the fond anticipation of temporal 
enjoyment, in the strong love of earthly existence, 
summoned to the eternal world ? And can you 
trust to that protection which has so often failed 
your companions ? No. In youth there is no se- 
curity. Do any put their trust in health ? You 
have seen the strength of manhood suddenly pros- 
trated by disease. You have known helpless chil- 
dren early deprived of parental protection. You have 
known the supporting arm of filial affection taken from 
trembling old age. You have seen one and another 
of your associates, in the full bloom of health, in the 
very maturity of their constitution, in all the engage- 
ments of activity, in all the endearments of domes- 
tic happiness, summoned to the eternal world. And 
can you trust to that protection which has so often 
15* 



166 

failed your acquaintances ? No. In health there is 
no security. Do any put their trust in riches ? Can 
wealth ward off the stroke of accident ? Can it 
purchase exemption from disease ? Can it mitigate 
the pains of sickness ? Can you point to the person 
who has bribed the destroying angel ? Have you 
not known the rich, one and another, with all their 
means of comfort and happiness, summoned to the 
eternal world ? And can you trust to that protec- 
tion which has so often failed the affluent? No. 
In riches there is no security. In what then can we 
trust? In nothing human; in nothing temporal. 
We have no security for our life. Whatever may 
be our age or rank or condition, we are constantly 
exposed to accident and disease. We are walking 
on the very brink of the grave, and there may be but 
a step between us and death. If then, my friends, 
we are continually exposed to death, is it not wise 
to be at sill times prepared for our departure ? Most 
certainly. 

In what does the preparation for death consist ? 

1. To be always prepared for death, you must 
ever maintain a correct knowledge of the character 
of your Creator. This you can obtain from the 
works of nature, from the deductions of reason, from 
the events of providence, and from the divine instruc- 
tions of Jesus. Their united testimony must con- 
vince you that he is infinite in all his perfections ; 
infinite in power, in wisdom, in goodness, in mercy, 
in justice ; is infinite love. Add to all these, the idea 
of an ever-present and all-perfect Father, and you 



161 

will hare some correct notion of his character. Now 
if you are a parent, you know that you love your 
children ; that no interest is so near your heart as 
their welfare, and that you would not intentionally do 
them injury. If you believe the plain instructions 
of the Saviour, you must also know that your heav- 
enly Father possesses the same kind of love, though 
infinite in degree, for all his human children ; that he 
has no interest separate from their best spiritual 
welfare, and that he will never do them injury. For 
his infinite perfections will always cause him to do 
right ; will ever prevent his doing wrong, and his pa- 
ternal affection can never be destroyed. If you are 
children, you know that your parents have always 
loved you ; that they have always designed your good 
in all their dealings, and that you have nothing to 
fear from their future conduct towards you. If you 
believe the plain instructions of Jesus, you must also 
know that your heavenly Parent has always loved 
you ; that he has always designed your good in all 
his dispensations, and that you have nothing to 
fear from his future conduct towards you, because 
he is infinite and unchangeable Love. If therefore 
you will bring home to your very soul, all the 
ennobling truths connected with the idea of an ever- 
present and all-perfect Father, you have no occasion 
to fear the approach of death. Living or dying, you 
are in the arms of a Father. In time or in eternity, 
you are in the bosom of a Father. His love placed 
you in this world of probation, and nothing but his 
love can ever remove you to a state of retribution. 



168 

As you cannot live without his constant support,, 
neither can you die without his immediate presence. 
His paternal care has always been your protection, 
and this can never be withdrawn. He has created 
you for happiness, and he will furnish the means for 
securing your felicity. If you render to him the af- 
fection and obedience of children, your happiness 
will be secured. But if you prove ungrateful and 
rebellious, your happiness must be lost. Ruin and 
misery must be your portion. For you are free 
agents, and can alter your own character and destiny, 
being aided by the ordinary and promised influences 
of the divine spirit. But you cannot change the 
character or laws of your unchangeable Father, who 
has eternally decreed that sin shall be attended with 
wretchedness. If then you will always maintain a 
a correct knowledge of the character of your Creator, 
and will love and serve and obey him as your ever- 
present Father, you will be always prepared to meet 
him in peace and joy. 

2. To be always prepared for death, you must 
ever maintain an unwavering; faith in the certainty of 
a future existence. This faith must rest on evidence, 
or it will be shaken by the winds of skepticism and 
infidelity. There is evidence sufficient to establish 
this certainty. For in its establishment, the charac- 
ter of our heavenly Father is concerned. If you 
look abroad on the face of the earth, you observe 
the prevalence of ignorance and vice and misery. 
You see an unequal distribution of the means of im- 
provement and happiness, of rewards and punish- 



169 

ments. Unless there be a future existence, where 
these evils shall he rectified and these inequalities 
equalized, can you ascribe justice to the character 
of your heavenly Father ? If you look abroad on 
the face of the earth, you observe thousands and tens 
of thousands of infants and children and youth drop- 
ping into the grave. You see the largest proportion 
of human offspring called from earthly hopes before 
they arrive at years of maturity. Unless there be 
a future existence where these germs of human in- 
tellect will put forth blossoms and yield fruit unto 
perfection, can you ascribe goodness to the charac- 
ter of your heavenly Father ? If you look abroad 
on the face of the earth, you observe the wonderful 
achievements of the human mind, the discoveries of 
science and the inventions of genius, the plans of 
benevolence and the aspirations of piety. Unless 
there be a future existence where such unearthly, 
spiritual faculties will be permitted to gratify their 
longings for immortality, and even ripen in the sun- 
shine of eternity, can you ascribe wisdom to the 
character of your heavenly Father ? If you look 
abroad on the face of the earth, you perceive that the 
strong ties of friendship and love are often severed. 
You see the tears of the parent and the child, the 
husband and wife, the brother and sister, the lover 
and friend, watering the new made graves of their 
departed relatives. Unless there is a future exis- 
tence where these severed ties of virtuous affection 
will be again united in undecaying friendship, can 
you ascribe love to your heavenly Father ? If 



170 

then our heavenly Father is infinite love ; infinite in 
wisdom and goodness and justice, then will the chil- 
dren of his affection survive the dissolution of their 
frail, material bodies, and be blessed with a spiritual 
immortality. Not only so. The resurrection of 
Jesus is attested by the most satisfactory evidence. 
The more it is examined, the deeper will be your 
convictions of this fundamental truth. And if Je- 
sus lives, his gospel is true. We shall all live 
again. This mortal must put on immortality. 
There is then no uncertainty, no cause for doubt, on 
•this momentous subject. And if we let our belief 
in this animating, this purifying truth, exert its proper 
influence on our hearts and lives and hopes, we shall 
be at all times prepared to meet our God in peace 
and joy. 

3. To be always prepared for death, you must 
<ever possess the necessary qualifications for heaven- 
ly happiness. These you can all secure by your 
own exertions, and with the promised assistance of 
your Father's spirit. For they do not consist in the 
belief of any mysterious or unintelligible doctrines, 
because we cannot believe what we do not under- 
stand. The fundamental principles of Christianity 
are few, simple and intelligible. The paternal char- 
acter of our Creator, the messiahship of Jesus, the 
consequent divinity of his religion, the necessity of 
moral goodness and the certainty of a future life of 
righteous retributions, constitute the essential doc- 
trines of the gospel. But a belief in these or in 
any other truths will be of no avail, unless it leads 



171 

to the acquisition of christian holiness, which is the 
necessary qualification for heavenly happiness. You 
will therefore exhibit the fruits of your religious belief 
in your daily and hourly temper and conversation 
and conduct. You will love and serve your heaven- 
ly Father, because this is necessary for your present 
happiness ; and when you enter the other world, you 
will still have the same Father to love and adore ; 
you will be still dependent on his parental care, and 
your happiness will still depend on your piety. You 
will also love and serve your fellow men, because 
this is necessary for your present happiness ; and 
when you enter the other world, you will still have 
fellow beings to love and assist ; you will still be 
dependent on their fraternal regard, and your happi- 
ness will still depend on your benevolence. You will 
likewise cultivate meekness, humility, charity, all 
the christian graces and virtues, because they are 
necessary to your present happiness ; and when you 
enter the other world, you will carry with you all 
your moral treasures ; they will still constitute your 
spiritual riches, and your happiness will still depend 
on your christian acquirements. You will, moreover, 
love and obey your once crucified Saviour, because 
this is now necessary to purify your souls from sin ; 
and when you enter the other world, you will still 
have the same Lord to reverence and obey until he 
delivers up the kingdom to his Father ; you will still 
have the same soul to preserve pure ; and your 
heaven will continue so long as your purity continues. 
In short, you will endeavor to be practical christians ; 



172 

christians in your faith and temper and conduct ; al- 
ways endeavoring to do what you believe to be right ; 
ever striving to avoid what you think to be wrong. 
And you will seek for high degrees of mental culti- 
vation and moral purity, realizing that you are ac- 
quiring an education for a higher sphere of intelli- 
gence and duty and felicity. Thus will you be 
qualified for heavenly happiness, and consequently 
prepared to meet your God in glory. 

4. To be always prepared for death, you must ever 
cherish correct views on the subject of death itself. 
Many persons suppose there is great pain and agony 
in the act of dying. This is not generally the case. 
The severity of suffering is usually experienced 
during sickness. We have reason to believe that 
the great majority drop into eternity with as little 
bodily pain as they fall asleep. We know indeed 
that there are instances in which the patient is called 
to endure much. But such examples are compara- 
tively rare, and such sufferings comparatively mo- 
mentary. The unhappy death bed is caused by the 
severe compunctions of an accusing conscience. 
And it is not a belief or disbelief in any religious 
creed, which can mitigate and destroy these suffer- 
ings. Those religious opinions which give support 
and consolation in death, are more or less common to 
all believers. There have been happy death beds 
in all denominations, because all have contained 
good christians, and not because all have embraced 
the whole truth of the gospel. And there have been 
unhappy death beds in all denominations, because 



173 

all have included some immoral and hypocritical 
members, and not because all have received some 
speculative errors. All Christians may embrace 
enough truth to neutralize the effects of error, and 
produce virtuous dispositions and actions ; and it is 
these which give support and comfort in a dying 
hour. And without a christian faith and character, 
it is not in the power of any true or false opinions to 
yield the awakened, unreformed, dying sinner, peace 
and joy. For he has an accuser in his own bosom 
whom he cannot silence or deny. He is conscious 
of having knowingly done wickedly, and of having 
wilfully refused to do righteously. The pain of dy- 
ing therefore, so far as the mind, the conscience, is 
concerned, is to be avoided by living soberly and 
righteously and godly. For what does the Lord thy 
God require of thee but to do justly, love mercy and 
walk humbly with thy God ? And as to bodily pains, 
it is unchristian to fear them ; for they are seldom 
experienced in the last moments, and by fearing 
them we show a practical distrust of the goodness of 
our Father, who will be our stay and comfort in the 
trying hour of nature's dissolution. If you thus pre- 
serve a conscience void of offence both towards man 
and God, and cherish correct views on the subject 
of death itself, you will be always prepared to meet 
your Maker. 

If then you are always prepared for death, you 
will also be prepared for life. Habitually realizing 
that your Creator is your unchangeable and loving Fa- 
ther, you will always avoid that slavish fear which is 
16 



174 

is ever productive of misery ; and cherish that filial 
love which is always productive of happiness. 
Habitually realizing the certainty of a future existence, 
you will always avoid that strong attachment to 
things temporal, and that excessive worldly anxiety, 
which are ever productive of misery ; and cherish 
that trust in God, and that spiritual mindedness which 
are always productive of happiness. Habitually real- 
izing that holiness is the necessary qualification for 
heavenly happiness, you will always avoid that sin- 
ful pollution, which is ever productive of happiness ; 
and exercise that living faith in Jesus which purifies 
the heart, and is always productive of happiness. 
Habitually realizing that your heavenly Father will 
be with you in the hour of death, you will always 
banish those indefinite fears and tenors, which are 
ever productive of misery ; and cherish those ration- 
al, christian views, which are always productive of 
happiness. If your preparation for death produces 
these fruits, you will always be prepared for the true 
enjoyment of life. And unless you are thus pre- 
pared to die, you are unprepared to live in this dying 
world. And unless you are thus prepared to live, 
you are unprepared to die the death of the righteous. 
But this is not all. If you are thus prepared 
either to live or die, you are also prepared for the 
death of your friends. I do not say that we shall 
remain unmoved when they are taken from our sight. 
To us their departure will be sudden. Whether 
they are carried off by accident, or lingering dis- 
ease, to us their departure will be sudden. For in th« 



175 

bosom of friendship, there is always hope so long as 
there is life, and the sudden destruction of hope will 
ever produce grief. And when we behold the friend 
we have loved as our own soul, pale and lifeless ; the 
eye of intelligence closed in the sleep of death ; the 
voice of music silent as the grave ; and all that ex- 
cited interest and gave beauty and loveliness and 
worth, forever departed from our mortal sight, we can- 
not contain our grief. The tears of affection will flow. 
We cannot restrain them if we would ; we would not 
if we could. They are the fruits of virtuous sensi- 
bility. Jesus wept. But when the agonized heart 
has given vent to its natural emotions, when the agi- 
tated feelings are calmed, and when sobered reason 
resumes its office, we experience the rich benefits 
of our preparation. The divine consolations of our 
holy religion will take possession of our souls. And 
we shall show by our christian composure, our cheer- 
ful resignation, our living faith, our animating hope, 
that we are ever prepared, in some humble degree, 
for the death of our friends. 

And, finally, we shall be prepared for the trying 
moment of our own dissolution. I do not say that 
we shall be unaffected at the approach of death. 
The strong ties of sympathy and affection are to be 
dissolved. We are to bid farewell to the friends we 
have loved, to the duties we have performed, to the 
hopes we have cherished, to the books we have read 5 
to the place in which we have lived, to all the en- 
dearing objects and pursuits and associations of time. 
And all this we cannot do without a struggle of hu- 



176 

inanity. Neither can we look forward into futurity 
without apprehension. We have no certain knowl- 
edge of the regions and scenes upon which we are to 
enter. No traveller has returned with the desired 
information. All is rendered fearful by a conscious- 
ness of our manifold imperfections and failings. And 
then hastens the trying moment of separation. The 
blood seems collecting at the heart. The light of 
day vanishes. The last grasp of affection is return- 
ed. And there is a feeling of loneliness which made 
even the divine Jesus exclaim, My God, my God, 
why hast thou forsaken me ? But the agony is soon 
passed. The light of the gospel illumines the dark- 
ened mind. The certainty of a heavenly inherit- 
ance is like an anchor to the soul. The realities of 
eternity burst on the enraptured vision. Faith 
reigns triumphant. There is no fear of annihilation ; 
no fear of an angry God > no fear of death ; but a 
firm confidence in the love of an ever present and 
unchangeable Father, acquired by a life of christian 
faith and practice » 



SERMON XV. 



CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF THE RIGHT- 
EOUS. 



Isaiah hi. 10. Say ye to the righteous that it shall 
be well with them ) for they shall eat the fruit 
of their own doings. 

Your attention is requested to some remarks on 
the character and condition of the righteous. The 
scriptures of truth will be my principal guide in the 
preseut inquiry. I acknowledge no other infallible 
authority. And by their decision I shall fearlessly 
abide. 

I. Who are the scripturally righteous ? 

1. Those are righteous who exercise unfeigned re- 
pentance towards God, and a living faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. This is the appointed process by 
which to attain scriptural righteousness. And bless- 
ed be God that he is willing to consider us holy, 
willing to secure to us the joys of earth and the 
blessings of heaven, on such merciful conditions. 
Merciful, 1 repeat. For after all our sincere exer- 
tions in the path of duty, we are still unprofitable 
children and disobedient servants. We go astray 
16* 



178 

from earliest youth. Our appetites and passions re- 
bel against reason and conscience. We forget the 
God who made and supports us. We neglect the 
Saviour who died to redeem us. His divine instruc- 
tions and spotless example do not secure our atten- 
tion and imitation. The fugitive pleasures of life 
allure us from the straight and narrow path of duty. 
Our moral principles are weakened by worldly pur- 
suits and enjoyments. Our pious and devotional 
feelings become cold and languid. Our good reso- 
lutions yield to the strong power'of temptation. Our 
thoughts and affections cling too strongly to earthly 
objects. Our best deeds are influenced by unhal- 
lowed motives. Our most ardent aspirations are too 
much polluted with sensual feelings. Our violations 
of the laws of conscience and of our Maker are in- 
numerable. Sensible of so many defects, so many 
imperfections, so many sins of omission and com- 
mission, how can we expect to appear innocent in 
the sight of Heaven ? We cannot. But our Fa- 
ther has assured us of his willingness to accept our 
sincere endeavors and our imperfect obedience. He 
is willing to consider us righteous upon condition 
of our genuine repentance, our unfeigned faith, our 
sober, righteous and godly life. This is the only 
righteousness we are capable of attaining ; the only 
righteousness required of imperfect creatures ; the 
only righteousness preached by Christ and his apos- 
tles. For the most powerful of the number sums 
up his instructions in these words : I have kept back 
nothing that was profitable for you, but have showed 



179 

you and taught you from house to house, testifying 
both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance 
towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

2. What are the evidences of a living faith and a 
sincere repentance ? What are the fruits by which 
the righteous are to be known ? The first trait in 
their character is the love of their heavenly Father. 
And if you are of this happy number, my friends, 
this affection will dwell in your hearts. It will con- 
stitute the foundation of your christian character. 
It will be the ruling and governing principle of your 
conduct. It will influence you to approach the 
throne of grace habitually, with a holy reverential 
fear and filial confidence ; and cause the acceptable 
incense of spiritual devotion to ascend at all times 
from the consecrated altars of your souls. It will 
awaken the glow of gratitude for all your manifold 
blessings. And should clouds and darkness some- 
times surround his throne, should sorrow and afflic- 
tion press heavily on your hearts, in him will ever 
be your hope and confidence. You will pour the 
bitterness of your sufferings into his bosom. You 
will receive all his dispensations with filial submis- 
sion. You will be cheerfully resigned to his uner- 
ring will. You will be always obedient to his wise 
and beneficial commands. In all things you will 
commit yourselves to his guidance and fatherly pro- 
tection. For your love to him will be supreme. 

3. Another conspicuous trait in the character of 
the righteous is their regard for their Lord and mas- 
ter Jesus Christ. If you are of this happy number, 



180 

my friends, you will prove yourselves his disciples, 
by making him your only infallible teacher in mat- 
ters of religion ; by receiving his instructions as eter- 
nal truth; by making his gospel the sole guide of 
your christian faith and practice ; by contemplating 
his perfect character and imitating his spotless ex- 
ample ; by imbibing much of his heavenly spirit ; 
by submitting yourselves to his authority ; by trusting 
to his promises for eternal life ; by embracing him 
as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world ; 
by confiding in him as your redeemer from all ini- 
quity ; by rendering him the heart-felt tribute of 
gratitude, veneration and love, and by confessing 
him before men in his appointed ordinance. 

4. Love to mankind is another reigning principle 
in the hearts of the righteous. If you are of this 
happy nnmber, my friends, you will learn from your 
heaven-taught teacher, that God is the impartial Fa- 
ther of the whole human family, and that all man- 
kind are brethren. As such you will ever endeavor 
to regard them. You will always aim to do unto 
them, in your motives, thoughts, feelings, conversa- 
tion and conduct, as you would wish them to do un- 
to you in an exchange of circumstances. You will 
be kind to all with whom you have any connexion. 
You will be benevolent to the destitute so far as cir- 
cumstances permit and occasions require. You will 
be charitable to all who may differ from you either 
in opinion or practice. You will be forgiving to all 
who have insulted or injured you. You will not be 
easily provoked by the petty conflicts of interest or 



181 

opinion. You will not be oppressive to the needy, 
or those under obligations. You will not be elated 
with vanity or pride. You will not be censorious, 
but clothed in the becoming garb of humility. The 
fruits of the spirit, which are peace, joy, love, long 
suffering, gentleness, fidelity, meekness and temper- 
ance, will shine most conspicuously in all your deal- 
ings and intercourse wiih your fellow creatures. 

5. The righteous are careful and solicitous to cul- 
tivate and cherish and increase this love for God and 
Christ and man, and at the same lime to maintain a 
proper distrust of themselves. If you are of this 
happy number, my friends, you will strive after these 
all-important christian graces and virtues. You will 
use all divinely appointed means of moral improve- 
ment. You will prayerfully and perseveringly study 
the sacred scriptures. You will observe all gospel 
institutions and ordinances. You will scrupulously 
practise every exercise of faith and piety. Espe- 
cially will you ever maintain a proper distrust of 
yourselves, a sense of your own unworthiness, a 
true spirit of humility, so that no spiritual pride or 
self-righteousness or exclusiveness may ever find a 
residence in your bosoms. In short, piety to God, 
benevolence to man, love and obedience to Jesus, 
and self-distrust, humility, self-cultivation and self- 
discipline, will be the commanding features, the 
leading principles of your characters. These are 
the fruits of your faith and repentance. And these 
will render you righteous in the scriptural sense, 
God grant that you may all have the testimony of 
your conscience that you belong to this nuniber, 



182 

II. Why shall it be well with the righteous ? Be- 
cause they shall eat the fruit of their own doings. 
What are these fruits, and when are they enjoyed? 

1. It is well with the righteous in life, because 
they are rewarded with real peace of mind. The 
apostle assures us that every soul who worketh good 
shall receive glory, honor, peace. This declaration 
is verified by abundant experience. And from what 
does that peace of the Christian arise ? From his 
rational belief in the existence of an ever-present 
and all-perfect Father; from an experimental ac- 
quaintance with the divine religion of Jesus; from a 
consciousness of having sincerely endeavored to 
obey the dictates of reason and conscience and rev- 
elation ; and from a firm and unshaken confidence 
in the mercy and love of the infinite Parent. These 
are the only solid grounds for true peace of mind ; 
and these belong to the pure and righteous. 

It is also well with the righteous in life, because 
their faith in Jesus is unwavering. They believe 
their redeemer liveth. They know in whom they 
have trusted. And though he has gone to prepare 
mansions in his Father's house for their reception, 
yet his instructions, his consolations, his perfect ex- 
ample are left for their contemplation, comfort and 
guidance. These afford them that pure, elevated, 
refined enjoyment which the world can neither fur- 
nish nor destroy. And they feel assured that when 
a few more changing seasons shall have come and 
departed, and a few more hours of pain and sorrow 
and disappointment and suffering shall have passed, 



183 

their warfare will be accomplished, the crown of 
victory will be received, a heavenly inheritance will 
be entered, and they shall be with their glorified 
master in realms of bliss. 

It is likewise well with the righteous in life, be- 
cause their progress in goodness is ever attended 
with present happiness. For the object of religious 
culture is to cleanse the heart from all earth-born 
propensities and affections, and to implant and nour- 
ish the graces and virtues of a heavenly origin. And 
every moral and christian exercise in which we en- 
gage has a direct tendency to accomplish this pur- 
pose, and at the same time to produce rational satis- 
faction. Yes; every prayer uttered in sincerity 
renders the duty less difficult and more delightful, 
fortifies the mind against temptation and sin, and fills 
the soul with a holy and tranquil joy. Every act of 
obedience to the divine will renders the perform- 
ance of others more easy, secures the approbation 
of conscience, and produces a happy elevation of 
feeling, resulting from a sense of the divine appro- 
bation. Every moment devoted to serious medita- 
tion on the example and character of Jesus, on the 
unspeakable blessings of his heavenly mission, and 
on the sublime discoveries of his pure gospel, is fol- 
lowed by unalloyed happiness. Every deed of kind- 
ness and charity returns an immediate reward. Ev- 
ery exercise of benevolent feelings, forgiveness of 
injuries, and genuine humility is productive of satis- 
faction. Every spirited effort to govern a vicious 
propensity or an unhallowed appetite, to banish a 



IS4 

sinful thought or subdue an inordinate affection, to 
conquer a rebellious passion or extirpate an evil 
habit, renders the recurrence of such plagues less 
frequent, makes the complete expulsion of them less 
difficult, leaves the soul less sinful and polluted, gives 
room for the growth of christian graces, and produ- 
ces present comfort. Now the happiness which 
arises from the discharge of these various duties is 
of a positive character ; such as can be felt and 
defined ; and such as will never forsake the right- 
eous under any earthly troubles. For should 
temptations assail, and friends prove false, and 
temporal blessings be destroyed, and earthly hopes 
be blasted, still they would feel happy in the 
testimony of their own conscience, in the moral pu- 
rity of their hearts and lives, in the promises of the 
blessed gospel, in their living faith in Jesus, and in 
their firm and unshaken confidence in an ever-pres- 
ent and all-perfect Father. 

2. It is well with the righteous in death, because 
they can review their past lives with satisfaction. 
They can look back on many tokens of divine love 
and mercy ; on many precious seasons of commu- 
nion wi.th their heavenly Father ; on many refresh- 
ing feasts at the table of their chosen and revered 
master ; on many deeds of kindness and benevo- 
lence ; on many successful struggles against tempta- 
tion and sin ; on many hours' resigned submission to 
the divine will. They do not indeed expect to 
merit heaven on account of these services. For 
after all their struggles against wickedness, and all 



185 

their exertions after obedience, they feel themselves 
to have been unprofitable servants. But they do 
look upon the past mercies of God as pledges of his 
future love. They do look upon their labors in the 
cause of goodness as the means which have greatly 
contributed to the purification of their souls. They 
do look upon their moral purity and holiness as the 
necessary qualifications for the enjoyment of heav- 
enly happiness. And they also look to the infinite 
mercy and unchangable love of their all-perfect Fa- 
ther for the gift of eternal life. Thus is it well 
with the righteous because a review of their past 
life affords them satisfaction. 

It is also well with the righteous in death, because 
the prospect before them is bright and joyful and an- 
imating. The light of the gospel has dispelled the 
darkness of the grave. The approach of dissolu- 
tion brings with it no terrors. They are supported 
and elevated by christian faith and hope and conso- 
lation. No vain regrets for the unsatisfying pursuits 
and pleasures of time escape their lips. They have 
long seen as through a glass, darkly. They will soon 
see their Saviour and the redeemed face to face. 
With a heavenly composure they bid adieu to weep- 
ing friends ; and in the language of inspiration ex- 
claim, I have fought a good fight. I have finished 
my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness ia 
that world to which T haste. And now, O Father, 
into thy hand I commend my spirit. Without a 
groan, without a sigh, their souls take the invisible 
17 



186 

flight to the spiritual world, even to the bosom of 
that Parent from whom they proceeded. Their de- 
parture was mild and tranquil like the setting of a 
summer's sun, and on the countenances of the life- 
less clay are impressed the beauty and loveliness of 
death, strongly indicating the happiness of the de- 
parted. 

3. It is well with the righteous in the other world, 
for they enter a state for which they are prepared. 
And my friends, if you are of this happy number 
you will enter an incorruptible state, where all tears 
shall be wiped away ; and where no sin, nor suffer- 
ing, nor death can ever come. You will enter a so- 
cial state, where the society will consist of a great 
multitude which no man can number, of all nations, 
and kindreds, and people, and tongues ; where long 
separated friends shall unite in undecaying friend- 
ship ; where an innumerable company of angels will 
be assembled ; where Jesus shall be glorified in his 
saints ; and where God himself unveils the bright- 
ness of his glory and the heaven of his presence. 
You will enter an active state, where employments, 
delightful and sublime, will occupy the unwearied 
hours; where devotions, pure and holy, shall joyful- 
ly ascend from pious hearts ; where all desires for 
knowledge will be gratified ; and where the soul 
shall forever increase in wisdom, and goodness, and 
felicity. You will enter an eternal state ; a state 
that shall never end ; no, never. If for a moment 
you should pause from your heavenly employments, 
and make the enquiry, What is the hour? Eternity 



187 

- — would burst upon your hearing from the voices of 
ten thousand times ten thousand of the redeemed. 
And after millions of millions of ages of bliss shall 
have rolled away, should you again ask the question, 
What is the hour ? Eternity — would again reecho 
through the immeasurable vaults of heaven. Yes, a 
state eternal as the eternal God. As your Saviour, 
for the joy that was set before him, endured the 
cross, so do ye be faithful unto death, and God will 
give you a crown of life. 



SERMON XVI. 

CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF THE WICKED. 

ISAIAH III. 11. AVOE UNTO THE WICKED ! IT SHALL BE ILL 
WITH HIM; FOR THE REWARD OF HIS HAND SHALL EB 
GIVEN HIM. 

Your attention is requested to some remarks on 
the character and condition of the wicked. The gos- 
pel of Jesus furnishes the only sure test of moral 
goodness. My present enquiry will therefore be 
guided by the decisions of this infallible standard. 
For by this must our characters be judged and re- 
warded both now and hereafter. 

I. Who are the scripturally wicked ? 

1 . Those are wicked who live under the prevail- 
ing influence of sin in their hearts. The word heart 
is frequently used to denote the whole intellectual 
and moral man, the reason and understanding, the 
affections and dispositions, the will and imagination. 
In this sense it may be considered the grand fountain 
of all our motives and thoughts, desires and tempers, 
words and actions. It is with the heart thus defined 
that we love either our Creator or the creatures of 
his hand. It is capable of loving both, for both are 
possessed of lovely qualities ; but both cannot be 



189 

loved in 'equal degrees at the same time. One or 
the other, the love of Deity, or the love of the world, 
must predominate. Can ye serve God and mam- 
mon ? It is also with the heart that we believe in 
Jesus unto righteousness. And it is the evil heart 
of unbelief that inclines us to depart from the living 
waters of salvation. Belief and unbelief on the 
same important questions of religion cannot exist in 
equal degrees in the same heart, at the same mo- 
ment. One or the other must predominate. What 
concord has Christ with belial ? There is likewise 
a pure, contrite, humble heart, from which proceed 
all good desires and dispositions and behavior. And 
there is the polluted heart, from which proceed evil 
thoughts, murders, and every sensual and malignant 
passion. Purity and pollution cannot both exist in 
equal degrees in the same heart, at the same period. 
One or the other must predominate. What fellow- 
ship has righteousness with unrighteousness ? It is 
moreover from the good treasure of his heart that 
the good man brings forth good things. And from 
the evil treasure of his heart that the evil man brings 
forth evil things. Equal quantities of both good 
and evil cannot proceed from the same heart at the 
same time. One or the other must predominate. 
Can a fountain send forth at the same instant fresh 
water and salt ? Or can a pure fountain send forth 
bitter waters ? or a corrupt fountain sweet waters ? 

From these scriptural allusions, you plainly per- 
ceive that the heart of man is the source of good 
conduct when under the influence of good motives 

n* 



190 

and principles. You also notice that it is the source 
of evil conduct when under the influence of sensual 
and wicked principles. This conclusion is confirm- 
ed by the testimony of experience and observation. 
And from these three sources of evidence, you must 
also be fully convinced that the human heart cannot 
in this world be wholly under the influence of either 
good or bad sentiments ; can neither be wholly bad, 
totally depraved ; nor wholly good, entirely pure and 
sinless. Neither can it remain in a state of perfect 
neutrality. Good or bad dispositions must rule. 
Those which have the ascendency determine the 
character, either as righteous or wicked. If then 
you do not prevailingly and habitually love your 
heavenly Father and your fellow men ; if you do 
not prevailingly and habitually believe on the Lord 
Jesus and submit yourselves to his authority ; if you 
do not prevailingly and habitually bring forth the 
good fruits of a sober, righteous and godly life, your 
heart is under the prevailing influence of sin ; and 
consequently you are wicked in the scriptural sense 
of the term. 

Now this general description includes every indi- 
vidual of the wicked. But the heart of man is 
wisely concealed from human observation. It is the 
prerogative of an omnicient God alone to know its 
true state. It is, however, the grand fountain from 
which issue the various streams of conduct. It is 
the living tree which yields all the actions of life. 
And can a good tree bring forth corrupt fruit ; or a 
corrupt tree produce good fruit ? No. Neither can 



191 

a man whose heart is prevailingly under the influence 
of sin exhibit good moral conduct ; nor can a man 
whose heart is prevailingly tinder the dominion of 
good motives and principles manifest a bad moral 
character. Hence our blessed Saviour has given us 
a rule by which to form our judgment of our fellow 
men. By their fruits shall ye know them. Follow- 
ing this divine direction, I must declare, — 

2. That the openly immoral are wicked in a 
scriptural sense. Those are immoral who know- 
ingly disobey the christian commands ; and open- 
ly immoral when their disobedience comes with- 
in the notice of their fellow men. And is not this 
class numerous ? 

Are there not many who habitually and intention- 
ally profane the holy name of their Maker? Is this 
dreadful impiety confined to any particular age or 
rank in society ? Do we not hear it from the imita- 
tive child and the hoary-headed sinner? from the 
beggar at your door and the libertine who riots in 
luxury? from the thoughtless mariner and the mili- 
tary chieftain ? from the foolish bravado and the 
shameless female ? Is it not truly astonishing that 
any persons who wish to be ranked among rational 
beings should deliberately indulge in a practice so un- 
meaning and useless in itself? so low and degrading 
in the estimation of all good society ? so shocking 
to the purest and best feelings of humanity ? so ex- 
pressly forbidden by the Saviour of the world ? so 
pernicious in its influence upon the character? and 
so sinful in the sight of God that he has expressly 



192 

assured us he will not hold him guiltless who taketh 
his name in vain ? 

Are there not also many who habitually and in- 
tentionally disregard the christian sabbath? How 
many methods do such persons contrive to misspend 
the precious season which God has so kindly set 
apart for their spiritual improvement ? They pass 
this sacred time either in sleep or idleness ; either in 
visiting friends or adjusting accounts ; either in friv- 
olous and unimproving conversation or the perusal of 
light and irreligious books ; either in the inordinate 
gratification of sensual appetites or the indulgence 
of forbidden pleasures. Is it not truly lamentable 
that so many are blind to their own best interests ? 
that so many in our highly favored land should neg- 
lect this happy day of rest and religious worship, in- 
struction and improvement; and thus bring upon 
themselves ignorance and misery by not remember- 
ing the sabbath to keep it holy ? 

Are there not those likewise who bear false wit- 
ness against their neighbors ? This includes not 
merely those guilty of perjury, but also the slander- 
er and the liar. I do not suppose there are many 
who would testify falsely when under oath, but I do 
believe the number is not small of those whose lips 
speak guile ; who are not religiously scrupulous about 
the truth ; who do not pay a tender regard to the rep- 
utation of others. And does not this disregard of 
truth and justice argue a bad state of the heart ? 
Can he love his neighbor as himself who endeavors 
to injure their influence or feelings or character, by 



193 

circulating false reports concerning their motives or 
principles or conduct ? And if he loves not his 
brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God 
whom he hath not seen ? 

Moreover, are not our hearts often pained by the 
sight of intemperance ? Are not her victims nu- 
merous and strongly marked ? Are they not found 
in both sexes, in all ranks, and among all ages ? Are 
they not guilty of a species of suicide ? The means 
adopted may not always effect their destruction so 
suddenly as the more violent measures sometimes 
pursued, but their fatal operation is no less certain. 
Is it not truly alarming that so many are giving them- 
selves up to this ruinous and beastly practice ? and 
destroying their own usefulness and happiness as 
well as the comfort and security of their connexions ? 
To this black catalogue I might add many more of 
a more aggravated description, such as the thief, the 
swindler, the gamester, the adulterer, the fornicator, 
the robber and the murderer. All these and many 
others, being openly immoral, must be wicked in a 
scriptural sense. 

3. Whoever lives in the habitual practice of known 
sin, or in the habitual neglect of known duty, is 
wicked in a scriptural sense. Our religion requires 
an unreserved surrender of the heart, and an earnest 
endeavor to practise thorough obedience. We may 
perform many of the duties of morality and piety, 
and preserve a fair name in the world ; but at the 
same time regularly indulge in some known favorite 
sin, or neglect some known unpleasant duty. We 



194 

may break off those pursuits and habits which re- 
quire no great efforts to give up, and assume so 
much of the garb of religion as will secure our 
christian reputation. But such obedience is insin- 
cere and cannot receive the divine acceptance. The 
whole heart must be given to duty. We must en- 
deavor to forsake and avoid every thing we know to 
be wrong, and pursue and practise every thing we 
believe to be right. For to him that knoweth to do 
good and doeth it not, to him this omission is sinful. 
Thus have I shown that the scripturally wicked are 
those w T ho live under the prevailing influence of sin 
in their hearts, who are openly immoral in their con- 
duct, who habitually practise some known iniquity 
or neglect some known duty. 

II. Why shall it be ill with the wicked ? Be- 
can^s the reward of their hands shall be given 
them. What is this reward, and when shall it be 
received ? 

1. It is ill with the wicked in life, because they 
can possess no real peace of mind. There is no 
peace to the wicked. They are like the troubled 
sea when it cannot rest. Not only Scripture but 
experience and observation instruct us that the dis- 
obedient seldom or never possess any true peace of 
mind. We are so constituted that wickedness is 
ever attended or followed by misery. Our misery 
is caused in part by the severe compunctions of an 
accusing conscience, that faithful monitor which 
divine wisdom has placed within us for wise and 
holy purposes ; and which ever reminds us of our 



M 



195 

deviations from the path of duty, unless seared by a 
long course of sin and irreligion ; and whose remon- 
strances are generally proportioned to our various 
degrees of moral sensibility and sinful pollution. 
Some of the most abandoned have been hurried to 
self-destruction by its overpowering warnings; and 
every class of the vicious are greatly disturbed at 
times by its searching and silent admonitions. 

It is also ill with the wicked in life, because their 
sins frequently produce actual and visible wretched- 
ness. Take the victim of intemperance. His 
iniquity produces sickness and disease, peevishness 
and painfulness, hardness of heart and blindness of 
mind, mental weakness and imbecility, quarrelling 
and accidents, poverty and disorder, and an enor- 
mous train of evils which I need not enumerate. 
The same may be said of many other kinds of 
wickedness. The gamester loses his temper and 
his property, becomes profane and intemperate, is 
degraded and despised. The wicked generally 
reap the fruits of their own labor in some punishment 
which is the necessary consequence of their trans- 
gressions. 

It is likewise ill with the wicked, because they have 
made no preparation for the trials of this mortal life. 
Religion can give them no consolation. For they 
have been so exclusively devoted to this world that 
the love of God has never found admission to their 
hearts. They have been so engrossed by earthly 
objects and pursuits as never to have attuned their 
minds to spiritual devotion. And when the hour 



196 

of affliction approaches, their habits of thinking and 
feeling and acting cannot be suddenly changed. 
Consequently they can derive little or no comfort 
from spiritual resources. And the world which 
they have worshipped has no sources of support 
and consolation for the sorrowful. It is therefore ill 
with the wicked in life, because their peace of mind 
is destroyed, their bodies and souls tormented by 
their sinfulness, and the consolations of religion are 
taken from them in seasons of suffering. 

2. It is ill with the wicked in the hour of death, 
because their misery is increased by a review of 
their past lives. When they look back, a picture of 
base ingratitude stares them in the face. They see 
mercies abused, and privileges disregarded, and 
iniquity committed. The invitations of a merciful 
Father have been slighted. The kind entreaties of 
a crucified Saviour have been despised. The 
strivings of the divine spirit have been resisted. 
The warnings of providence have been unimproved. 
The exercises of the sabbath have been neglected. 
The scriptures have been unstudied. And then 
perhaps will press upon the agitated soul, the recol- 
lection of appetites exclusively indulged, and affec- 
tions perverted, and promises broken, and confi- 
dence betrayed, and enmities indulged, and cruel- 
ties practised, and duties disregarded, and life mis- 
spent. Harrowed up by such remembrances, the 
bible brings no comfort, for they know nothing of 
its contents. The Saviour presents no attractions, 
for they have crucified him afresh by a life of 
disobedience. 



197 

It is also ill with the wicked in the hour of death, 
because the prospect before them is dark and hope- 
less. They have made no proper preparation for 
this mortal conflict. The blessed gospel has shed 
for them but few rays of heavenly light on the dark 
valley of the shadow of death. They have secured 
no friends, laid up no imperishable treasures in the 
world to which they are soon going. The hopes of 
the hypocrite which they have cherished are now 
passing away. Thus deserted by friendly hope, 
their minds are occupied by a fearful looking for of 
judgment and righteous indignation. At such a 
moment will the recollection of earthly friends, or 
riches amassed, or flatteries received, or learning 
acquired, or pleasures experienced, calm their 
troubled spirits ? O no. Nothing but the remem- 
brance of a well spent life, the approbation of con- 
science, the religion of the gospel can impart peace 
and hope to the departing soul. These the wicked 
have not ; and with many compunctions of mind, 
and many pangs of remorse, and many appalling 
anticipations of the future, they enter that untried 
state, where God will render unto every man accord- 
ing to his deeds. Thus it is ill with the wicked in 
death, because their review of the past and their 
anticipations of the future give them pain and 
misery. 

3. Jt is ill with the wicked in the other world, 
because they are not qualified for heavenly happi- 
ness. And what punishment more severe need we 
.imagine, than for them to enter the spiritual existence 
18 



198 

without any vital principles, of religion, or any good 
degree of benevolence, or any holy affections, or any 
pious dispositions ? What punishment more severe 
need we imagine, than for them to be admitted into 
that innumerable company of ransomed souls, in 
whose blissful employment they are not prepared to 
engage, in whose purest joys they are not fitted to 
sympathize, and in whose spiritual devotions they 
are not qualified to participate ? What punishment 
more severe need we imagine, than for them to 
meet that glorified Saviour whom they have never 
cordially received, whose merciful invitations they 
have wilfully slighted, and whose salutary instruc- 
tions they have practically despised ? What pun- 
ishment more severe need we imagine, than for 
them to approach the more immediate presence of 
that merciful Father whom they have never sincere- 
ly loved, or cheerfully obeyed, or truly worshipped ? 
Now this is the lightest punishment that the wicked 
can possibly receive ; and is not this most alarming ? 
Is it not then ill with the wicked in life and death 
and eternity ? And will you not all avoid wicked- 
ness ? O yes ; as you value the happiness of this 
life and the next, as you value the love of your 
Saviour and your Father, you will strive to be 
ranked among the righteous. 



SERMON XVII. 

LOVE TO ENEMIES. 
MATTHEW T. 44. LOVE YOUR ENEMIES. 

These are the words of our Saviour. He was 
surrounded by enemies. They contradicted the 
truth of his declarations. They perverted the 
meaning of his instructions. They misrepresented 
the motives of his conduct. They denounced him 
as a malefactor. They attributed his miracles to 
diabolical agency. They bribed one of his corrupt 
disciples to betray him into their hands. They 
brought against him false accusations. They pro- 
nounced an unjust sentence of condemnation. 
They nailed him to the accursed cross between 
two thieves. From the hour he entered on his 
public ministry to the moment of his ignominious 
death, he was exposed to the hatred and malignity 
and persecution of real enemies. But notwithstand- 
ing all their wickedness, he ever manifested 
towards them a God-like disposition. He always 
desired and aimed to promote their best welfare. 
He constantly labored to render them wise and 
good and happy. He even loved them as children 
of his heavenly Father, and explicitly commanded 



200 

his disciples to exercise the same affection. All 
this you well know. But do you also know that 
this command was likewise intended for your obedi- 
ence ? Do you also recollect that this heavenly 
example was left for your imitation ? Do you fully 
realize that unless you endeavor to conform to this 
precept, and to copy this pattern, you are destitute 
of at least a portion of the christian spirit and char- 
acter. 

Now, my friends, I do not suppose an individual 
present is a real enemy to any human being. I 
do not believe an individual present is exposed to 
the hatred of one real enemy. But I do suppose, 
I do verily believe, there may be several persons 
present who are more or less unfriendly to some 
one or more of their fellow mortals. I do also sup- 
pose, I do also verily believe, that most of us may 
be exposed to the ill will of more or fewer of our 
neighbors and acquaintances. And I am not at all 
surprised that this should be the fact. For we 
have come into this village from several different 
directions. We are comparatively strangers to each 
other's true characters. We are differently consti- 
tuted and differently educated. We entertain dif- 
ferent sentiments, and are pursuing different inter- 
ests. We are all seeking our own welfare which 
may frequently appear to interfere with the 
prosperity of others. We quickly notice the 
failings of others, and readily make them the 
subject of our conversation. In some one or more 
of these ways, our dislikes are produced. We think 
others have slighted or injured us, and others 



201 

believe we have slighted or injured thern. Those 
of whom we think or speak evil, or to whom we 
offer an apparent or real insult, call us their ene- 
mies ; and those who think or speak evil of us, or 
do us an apparent or real injury, we call our ene- 
mies. Such enmities disturb the peace and har- 
mony and happiness of individuals, families, neigh- 
borhoods, societies and towns ; and as thej arise 
from a disregard of our Saviour's precepts and 
example, I would ask your attention to the subject 
of my text. 

I. What then is implied in loving our ene- 
mies ? 

1. Would you love your enemies in the sense 
required, you must cultivate and exercise toward 
them feelings similar to those which our heavenly 
Father cherishes towards -all his sinful children. 
And what are these ? Let me explain. He 
knows perfectly all our weakness, all our imperfec- 
tions all our wickedness. He knows our disobedi- 
ence of his benevolent commands, and our forgetful- 
ness of his manifold favors. He knows our misim- 
provement of his various blessings, and our stub- 
born opposition to his ' rightful authority. All this 
you will admit. Still he feels towards us no ill will, 
no anger, no resentment, no wrath, no revenge. 
He ever manifests the kindest dispositions. He 
does ail that can be done in consistency with our 
moral freedom for our real happiness. He designs 
no injury, nothing but good in all his dispensations. 
All this you will also acknowledge. Yet he disap- 
18* 



202 

proves of our iniquity. He punishes our transgres- 
sions. He intends his discipline for our reformation 
and improvement. All his dealings are directly 
calculated to benefit our characters, and increase our 
felicity. Such then are the feelings of our heaven- 
ly Father towards all his dependent, imperfect, 
rebellious offspring, if we may believe the testimony 
of nature and reason and conscience and experience 
and revelation. 

Such then should be your spirit towards your 
enemies. You may ascertain their true characters. 
You may discover their depravity. You may 
obtain evidence of their hatred. You need not 
approve of anything which is the least unchristian in 
their motives, or tempers, or 'words, or actions. 
You need not esteem their licentiousness, or unkind- 
ness, or uncharitable ness. But you must abstain 
from any ill will or anger or revenge on account of 
these forbidding qualities. And not only so. Let 
them injure your feelings, your influence or your 
interest ; let them misrepresent your motives, your 
principles or your conduct ; let them defame your 
characters, blast your happiness or destroy your 
peace ; let them do what they may ; you must not 
retaliate. You must never return evil for evil. 
You must do nothing but what is right and chris- 
tian. But justice and religion permit you to expose 
their iniquities, as our Saviour did those of the 
self-righteous hypocrites. You may acquaint them 
and the world with their offences against morality 
and charity and holiness. You may prosecute them 



203 

in the civil law, if a regard to your reputation, use- 
fulness or safety requires such a process. You may 
avoid their society and influence whenever they are 
likely to prove injurious or dangerous. All this 
and much more you may lawfully and innocently 
perform, But in no case is it allowable to do any 
thing which you believe to be wrong either in thought 
or feeling or action. You should always wish them well, 
You should endeavor to do them good so far as your 
circumstances and opportunities permit. In one word, 
you should strive, at all times and under all circum- 
stances, to make them wiser and better and happier. 
You will thus prove yourselves the obedient children 
of your kind Father, who maketh his sun to rise on 
the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the 
just and the unjust. 

2. But can I really love a vicious character ? 
Suppose for example a person should pretend to be 
my friend. Suppose I regard him as a man of sound 
principles, pure morals, good dispositions and virtu- 
ous character. Suppose I love him for these imag- 
ined excellencies and place confidence in his fancied 
integrity. And after all this, suppose I should find 
myself grossly mistaken in the individual. Suppose 
he should prove to be a hypocrite, and manifest his 
enmity by revealing my secrets, misrepresenting my 
conversation, slandering my character. Now could 
I love this person as well after my discovery of his 
treachery, as when I considered him my trust- 
worthy friend and companion ? By no means. 



204 

Nothing of the kind is possible, and nothing of this 
sort is required either by reason or revelation. 
For the qualities which I supposed he possessed 
and which secured my esteem are wanting ; 
and the/e is nothing left on which to bestow 
my approbation or place my affections. But then 
I need not hate the villain, and thus punish my- 
self for his iniquities. I have indeed been de- 
ceived. I am greately disappointed. Neither 
should I endeavor to injure the man who is already 
so wretched. Punish him I may for his own refor- 
mation and the benefit of society ; for this is consist- 
ent with the purest benevolence. And all this can 
be effected most beneficially without the least hatred 
or revenge. Pity him I must, for he has forfeited 
all respect, even the respect of himself. Yet I may 
blame him for his wickedness, aim to bring him to 
a sense of his depravity, strive to aid him in the 
great work of reformation, and ever wish for him 
all real blessings. Thus shall I manifest my good 
will, my benevolent desire, which in scripture is 
frequently called love. 

3. Now reason and religion both require that our 
love should always be proportioned to the good qual- 
ities of the objects beloved. Why are we com- 
manded to love our heavenly Father supremely ? 
Because he is a perfect being, exhibiting every pos- 
sible perfection, possessing no unlovely qualities, and 
constantly manifesting his infinite affection towards 
his rational children. And why are we required to 
love our Saviour in sincerity ? Because he is the 



205 

son of the Most High, and lived a sinless life on 
earth, and discovered the most disinterested benev- 
olence for the salvation of mankind. And why are 
we exhorted to love our fellow creatures as our- 
selves ? Because they are of the same nature, 
equally pure and innocent, equally dear by birth to 
our common Parent, and equally necessary to the 
general welfare. As we would not willingly wish 
ourselves evil or do ourselves injury, so we should 
never wish evil to others or do them an intentional 
injury. As we- are uniformly desirous of securing 
happiness to ourselves, and continually striving to at- 
tain higher degrees of felicity, so we should always 
wish all others to be happy, and incessantly aim to 
promote their highest and best interests for time and 
eternity. And why do we love our partners, our 
children, our parents, our relatives and our friends, 
better than those with whom we have less intimacy 
and acquaintance ? Because we either see or think 
we see more engaging qualities in those who are thus 
endeared by all the ties of nature and association ; 
and also because we either receive or think we re- 
ceive more affection and confidence and benefits in 
return. And why did our Saviour love Lazarus 
and his sisters better than the members of any other 
family ; and why was John the best beloved of his 
apostles ? Because he saw in these several individ- 
uals more worthy qualities than in others of his as- 
sociates. So it should be with all his disciples. We 
should never respect nor esteem any thing sinful in 
either friend or foe. Those who hate us, and en~ 



206 

deavor to do us evil, we can neither honor nor love 
in the sense described. But we can and we ought 
to cherish good will towards them ; a desire for 
their reformation and improvement. And if we 
cherish this forgiving, benevolent disposition towards 
those who are vicious and inimical, we comply with 
our Saviour's command in its true import. We love 
our enemies in the manner enjoined. 

But this feeling of forgiveness and benevolence 
must not be hypocritical ; it must exist in the heart, 
and not merely in the words of the mouth. I fear 
this is not always the case. You frequently notice 
persons who declare their readiness to pardon those 
who have injured them, and their desire to aid in 
their reformation and improvement. But you may 
also hear them affirm with a significant shake of the 
head, that they shall never forget their enemies, al- 
though they are disposed to forgive. Now you are 
furnished by this indication with the strongest proof 
of the remaining ill will and enmity of their hearts. 
They are ready to rejoice in the misfortunes of those 
they pretend to have forgiven and profess to love. 
They are waiting for opportunities to throw out de- 
signing hints and base insinuations and exaggerated 
charges against their reputation. They are desirous 
of injuring their feelings or influence or character as 
opportunities offer. You thus see that their preten- 
sions are hypocritical. Such greatly deceive them- 
selves. Their ill will still burns in their breasts. It 
may be overlaid with the ashes of hypocrisy, but 
will burst into a flame whenever fanned by the winds 



207 

of opposition and interest. This does not answer 
the requisition of the Saviour. There must be 
heart-felt benevolence, and this principle must be 
manifested in thoughts and feelings and conversation 
and actions. 

II. Why should we love our enemies? 

1. If we would secure our own happiness, we 
must love our enemies. Look into society and se- 
lect an individual who disobeys this command. A 
little attention will soon convince you that his very 
enmity destroys his daily enjoyment. For you per- 
ceive that a sense of his supposed injuries is ever 
uppermost in his thoughts. He is frequently medi- 
tating on the real or imagined failings of his oppo- 
nents. He is searching out some method of revenge 
which does not come under the cognizance of the 
laws. And you occasionally hear him venting his 
ill will and hatred in unmeasured terms of reproach, 
since from the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh. You may also remark his uneasiness and 
vexation whenever the good name or proper conduct 
or worldly success of his adversaries is mentioned. 
And should he meet them face to face, he cannot 
look them steadily in the eye, or behold them with a 
calm, unblushing, unruffled countenance. All this 
is sufficient to convince you that his heart is the 
abode of envy, jealousy, hatred, resentment ; and 
also that his tatlings, and slanders, and evil surmis- 
es, and secret machinations are the natural fruits of 
his ungoverued passions. And so long as this en- 
mity is permitted to tyrannize over the better affec- 



208 

tions of his soul, so long must he be deprived of 
real satisfaction. Let him be in whatever occupa- 
tion or situation you please, he can find no relief for 
his wretchedness but in thorough reformation. So 
long then, my friends, as any of you cherish ill will 
or revenge towards any of your fellow men, so long 
you foster the seeds of wretchedness in your own 
bosoms ; so long you banish from them peace, tran- 
quillity, happiness ; so long you give residence to a 
vile company of tormenting feelings, sensations, de- 
sires and passions. And travel wherever you may, 
remain wherever you choose, you will still have a 
hell in your bosoms. For our Saviour has expressly 
assured us that until we have forgiven our enemies 
we cannot expect the divine forgiveness; until we 
banish our hatred and enmity from our hearts by 
thorough reformation, they will continue to torment 
and punish us. You thus learn the great impor- 
tance of loving your enemies in order to secure your 
own happiness, for your own experience or observa- 
tion must have convinced you that those who disre- 
gard this divine command are punished by their dis- 
obedience. 

But this is not the whole of the evidence. We 
are created for happiness, but we cannot expect to 
secure this blessing unless we conform to the laws of 
our Creator. For he is perfectly happy only be- 
cause he is perfectly holy. If he could feel anger 
or wrath or hatred, he would be miserable like bis 
imperfect creatures ; for these evil dispositions are 
directly opposed to love, which is the essence of his 



209 

nature. Although we are made for happiness, we 
cannot enjoy it unless we are conformed to his mor- 
al image. And the more we resemble Him and 
our Saviour, the nearer shall we- approach to per- 
fect happiness. Consequently our enjoyment must 
be diminished in exact proportion to our hatred and 
enmity. Our true interest therefore consists in 
cheerfully and heartily forgiving those who injure 
us, in blessing those who curse us, in doing good to 
those who despitefully use and persecute us. For 
in this way we return good for evil, and thus prove 
ourselves the children of our Father and the practi- 
cal followers of our Saviour. 

2. If we would make our enemies good and 
happy, we must love them in the manner described. 
Unless w r e really desire to promote their best wel- 
fare, we shall probably endeavor to make them mis- 
erable. We shall be watching for opportunities to 
make them hateful and hated by others, to exult (fver 
their misfortunes and imperfections, and to injure their 
popularity or enjoyment. When such -a spirit of 
enmity pervades any of the members of a family, 
a neighborhood, a society, a town, it produces an 
abundant harvest of evil speaking and evil acting ; 
and it also prevents improvement in knowledge, 
goodness and friendship. The only way in which 
the peace and happiness of such. a community can 
be restored is by changing its spirit and disposition. 
Ffom a selfish, unkind, malignant, inimical temper, 
it must manifest a forbearing, forgiving, accommo- 
dating, confiding, benevolent character. Thus will 
J9 



210 

each one notice and remember, not the slights 
and foibles and failings of others, but their amiable 
and virtuous and christian qualities. Thus will 
each one endeavor, not to ensnare and injure and 
ruin others, but to build them up in everything 
manly and virtuous and dignified. Social inter- 
course will thus be productive of improvement and 
satisfaction. We shall all be better, and do better, 
and feel better ; and we shall also be instrumental 
in bettering the condition and character of those we 
call our enemies. 

3. We must love our enemies, if we would obey 
the commands of our Saviour and our Father. 
We believe we were created for happiness, be- 
cause a Creator of perfect love would have had no 
other object in our creation. We must also conclude 
that he could have no other end in view in giving 
us laws for the regulation of our heart and life. 
For the amount of the whole code is nothing 
more nor less than this : Do thyself no harm ; do 
thyself all possible good. Since such are the 
designs of our existence and the revelation of 
our Father's will, shall we not obey this most use- 
ful precept of our commissioned Saviour ? A pre- 
cept given solely for the promotion of our temporal 
and spiritual enjoyment. And since our Saviour 
has done and suffered so much to communicate and 
exemplify the beauty of those divine commands, 
shall we not manifest our gratitude to him by our 
obedience ? Shall we not strive to be his humble 
imitators ? Shall we not aim to prove ourselves his 
true followers by our imitation of his example ? 



211 

Yes ; if we wish to secure our own enjoyment, if 
we "wish to perform the God-like duty of promoting 
the happiness of others, if we wish to obey the com- 
mands of our Father, we shall love our enemies. 

III. What means must we adopt in order to love 
our enemies? 

1. We must cultivate a desire to love them. 
This is the first step for the attainment of the pre- 
scribed disposition. This is too frequently forgot- 
ten or neglected. You occasionally hear individ- 
uals making the following remarks : — c We cannot 
love our enemies ; it is an utter impossibility ; it is 
contrary to our nature ; it is a command too diffi- 
cult to be obeyed ; it is a saying too hard to be heard. 5 
Now to all such assertions I would make two replies. 
And first, we may rest assured that both our Saviour 
and our Father know our ability ; know what duties 
we can perform and what dispositions we can acquire 
and exhibit ; understand most perfectly our capaci- 
ties and our strength. And we accuse them either 
of ignorance, or cruelty, if we believe they have com- 
manded impossibilities. Yes; we virtually charge 
them with not knowing what man could perform, or of 
directing him to accomplish labors beyond the pow- 
ers of human ability. But either supposition is too 
absurd for our belief. The second and true answer 
then is this : — You have not really desired to obey 
the precept. You have not sincerely endeavored to 
love your enemies. You have not made persever- 
ing exertions to acquire this christian disposition. 
You have not fervently prayed to imitate the exam- 



212 

pie of your forgiving Saviour, Whoever among 
you are disposed to make the above excuses for 
your neglect and disobedience, must remember that 
you have a great work to perform. You must 
cultivate a desire to obey the divine injunction. 
This you can effect by meditating on the folly, the 
guilt, the wretchedness of your enmity ; on the im- 
portance, the necessity, the obligation, the pleasure 
of obedience ; on the life, the labors, the sacrifices, 
the sufferings of Jesus, and on the paternal charac- 
ter and impartial love of your heavenly Father. 
And when you have originated, and strengthened, 
and confirmed this desire to love your enemies, the 
principal obstacles to "your obedience will be re- 
moved. 

2. We should endeavor to become better ac- 
quainted with those we call our enemies, if we 
would love them as commanded. Many of the dis- 
likes and enmities of common life arise from igno- 
rance of each others character. We are too apt 
to form our estimate of one another, from some 
uncommon action, some unguarded expression, 
some unintentional slight, some well-meaning inter- 
ference with our interest, or some unimportant 
circumstances. A person may possess many amia- 
ble and praiseworthy qualities, but if we happen to 
discover one mean or disingenuous trait in his dis- 
position or character, we think more of the one 
disagreeable part than of all the lovely and virtuous 
ones ; and while we forget very easily what is esti- 
mable, we are always ready to mention what i? 



213 

offensive. We thus form our opinion of others, and 
lead our acquaintances into the same errors, in this 
unfair and ungenerous manner. So with regard to 
a difference of sentiment. If we happen to disagree 
with our neighbors on one or a few controverted- 
topics, we are commonly disposed to make more of 
our slight disagreement than of our great harmony 
on many other more important subjects. Now we 
ought ever to remember that we all have more or 
less failings, imperfections and iniquities in our own 
characters, which are known to others ; and which 
are also circulated to our disadvantage. We should 
also recollect that we differ as much from others as 
they do from ns, and on this account are equally 
exposed to their dislike and censure. We should 
therefore endeavor to form more intimate acquaint- 
ance with those who sustain a reputable standing in 
society. We should make the same allowance for 
the weaknesses and faults of others, that we wish 
them to make for ours. We should regard an 
honest difference in sentiment as an unavoidable 
occurrence, and by no means to be feared or dread- 
ed. And if we are all aiming to become pure and 
practical christians, the more intimate our friendship, 
the more lovely qualities we shall discover. Our 
hatred will diminish, and our affection will increase. 
3. If we would love our enemies we must often 
contemplate the example of our Saviour. From 
his temptation in the wilderness to his agonizing 
death, en the cross, he was beset by human ene- 
mies; enemies the most unreasonable, the most 
19* 



214 

persevering, the most malicious, the most inhuman. 
But he never manifested towards them any feelings, 
of ill will, or hatred, or anger, or resentment, or re- 
venge. He never returned evil for evil, railing for 
.railing, or cruelty for persecution. No ; he ever re- 
garded their spiritual welfare as one grand object of 
his mission. He freely imparted to them the most 
salutary and soul-saving instructions. And for 
their temporal and eternal happiness, he labored, he 
wept, he taught, he prayed, he suffered. And while 
experiencing the pangs of a cruel and ignominious 
death, he even besought his Father also to forgive 
his brutal murderers. Learn from this heavenly 
example how to forgive and love your enemies. 
Learn to banish from your bosoms — all ill will and 
hatred and revenge. Learn to do good to all as 
you have opportunity. You may be assured that 
this is the only safe path to true happiness. And 
when you shall be summoned to part with all tem- 
poral things, you may depend that you can derive 
nothing but misery from a retrospect of your enmi- 
ties, and nothing but satisfaction from your forgiving 
and benevolent dispositions. And when you enter 
the other world, you cannot enjoy the society of 
saints and angels, of Jesus and his Father, unless 
your souls are purified from all hatred and revenge. 
Will you not then strive to obey the command of 
your acknowledged Master? You are urged by 
many powerful motives, by a regard to your own 
peace and happiness and salvation, by you| desire 
for the promotion of human welfare and felicity,' and 
by your love for Jesus and God. 



SERMON XVIII. 



CHRIST OUR TEACHER. 



JOHN III. 2. WE KNOW THAT THOU ART A TEACHER COME 
FROM GOD ; FOR NO MAN CAN DO THESE MIRACLES THAT 
THOU DOEST, EXCEPT GOD BE AVITH HIM. 



These words were spoken to Jesus. They con- 
tain a true description of his character and office. 
His miracles surely proved bis divine mission. He 
executed his important trust with fidelity. He cor- 
dially invited all to come and learn of him. Al- 
though he has ascended to his God and our God, 
yet his gracious invitations are extended to all suc- 
ceeding generations. In his precious gospel, which 
contains a faithful record of his labors and teachings 
and sufferings, he now entreats each one of us to 
hear and obey his instructions. Shall we not listen 
to the soothing voice of this heavenly teacher, this 
disinterested friend, this all-sufficient Saviour? 

I. What are some of the most important "lessons 
which we may learn from our heavenly teacher ? 

1 . From the instructions of Jesus you may learn 
the true character of God. You all believe in the 



216 

existen.ee of one all-perfect creator and ruler of the 
universe. But how will you know his real nature ? 
How will you ascertain that he is a being of infinite 
perfections ? How will you discover that he inter- 
ests himself in the welfare and happiness <ff his ra- 
tional offspring ? Will you go to the uncivilized 
heathen ? He will tell you that the great spirit is 
capricious, changeable, cruel and revengeful. Will 
you listen to the renowned sages of antiquity ? They 
will inform you that their gods many and lords many 
are imperfect, licentious, quarrelsome and indiffer- 
ent to human affairs. Will you visit the wise men 
of the eastern world ? They will assert that Deity 
exists in thirty million of persons, and is pleased 
with human sacrifices. Will you depend on the 
conclusions of unenlightened reason ? Read the 
views of every unchristian people, and you will find 
them low, puerile, degraded. Will you search the 
controversial writings of professed believers ? From 
them you will obtain but little satisfaction. For 
while some represent the Supreme Being as a partial 
and unfeeling tyrant, others ascribe to him human 
weakness and imbecility. No. From none of these 
sources can you learn the true character of God. 

Turn then, my friends, to the heaven-taught Je- 
sus. He assures you that your Maker is possessed 
of infoiite and unlimited perfections. He assures 
you that your Preserver is a being of perfect love. 
He assures you that your moral Governor is truly 
an ever-present Father. Yes. You can now be- 
lieve that the author of your existence feels for you 



217 

an infinite affection ; that he has created you for 
happiness here and hereafter ; that he orders all the 
events of your lives in wisdom and goodness, and 
that he designs the best welfare of his children in all 
his dispensations. You thus perceive that all the 
apparent evils of time are permitted in benevolence, 
and overruled for the promotion of the greatest possi- 
ble good. Here then you obtain instruction of the 
utmost importance ; instruction consonant to the 
dictates of enlightened reason and unperverted con- 
science ; instruction accordant with the best feelings 
and highest aspirations of your nature; instruction 
absolutely essential to your greatest improvement and 
happiness ; instruction proved true by the operations 
- of natural laws, the events of providence, and the in- 
spired teachings of the son of the Most High. Here 
you secure an immoveable foundation for present 
peace and consolation and felicity ; and for future 
everlasting bliss and ultimate perfection. Here you 
find the strongest possible inducement to love, grati- 
tude, submission, obedience and worship. If then 
you would obtain the truth on this momentous sub- 
ject, go not to savage or sage ; go not to hindoo or 
Mahometan ; go not to Jewish or christian partizans ; 
but resort directly and humbly to the commissioned 
Jesus. And while you learn from his lips that your 
Creator is your ever-present, all-perfect, unchangea- 
ble friend and Father, learn also from his example 
to render unto him the confidence, affection and 
obedience of children. 

2. From the instructions of Jesus you may learn 



218 

the true character of man. When we enter this 
world, we can have no moral character ; we can be 
neither sinful nor holy, because we cannot distinguish 
between good and evil. Our souls are mere blanks, 
wholly incapable of the formation of moral habits. 
As we increase in years, our characters begin to 
form, and they take their complexion from various 
circumstances ; from our situation in life ; from the 
instructions we receive and the examples we imitate ; 
from the sentiments we adopt- and *the habits we 
form. As we advance to maturity of understanding 
we learn the distinction between right and wrong, 
virtue and vice. We readily notice that some per- 
sons are more pure and holy than others, and we 
conclude that some individuals are really better than 
others. Sensible of our own failings we admit our 
unrighteousness. But comparing ourselves with some 
around us, and being necessarily partial in our ex- 
aminations and judgments, we conclude that our 
characters, if not so perfect as a few, are indeed 
worthier than many. And hence we are prone to 
rest easy in our self-delusion and sinfulness. We 
do not ascertain the true state of our hearts and 
lives. How then shall we find a remedy for this 
evil ? 

Go to the heavenly Jesus. He assures you that 
infants need no conversion -, that they are already in 
the kingdom of heaven, and are to be ranked among 
the pure in heart. He would have them kept from 
the evil that is in the world, and trained up to high 
degrees of moral goodness. He would have you all 



219 

form a perfect character ; such an one as he exhib- 
ited when on earth. He would have you acquire 
the moral virtues in the same manner that he did, 
by a conscientious discharge of all incumbent du- 
ties ; by loving God with your whole heart ; by lov- 
ing your fellow-men as yourselves ; by restraining 
all your animal appetites and propensities, all your 
intellectual passions and desires, within the prescrib- 
ed bounds of reason and religion. By comparing 
your motives and thoughts, dispositions and tempers, 
conversation and conduct with his teaching and ex- 
ample, you may learn your deficiencies and trans- 
gressions. These must be known before you can 
proceed to reformation and improvement. You 
must then strive to approach this model of christian 
perfection. And though you cannot hope to obtain 
all in this world ; though you can never become so 
holy but there will be room for improvement, still 
you can never innocently relax your efforts. You 
are solemnly bound to press forward towards the 
mark of .the prize of the high calling in Christ Je- 
sus. If then you would learn your true character, 
go not to human moralists merely ; go not to hea- 
then philosophy ; compare not yourselves with your 
erring and sinning companions ; but go directly to 
the sinless Saviour ; contemplate his spotless exam- 
ple ; imbibe his heavenly temper ; prove yourselves 
his obedient disciples, and you will secure the un- 
speakable rewards of holiness. 

3. From the instructions of Jesus you may learn 
the true way of salvation. When you have done 



220 

wrong, you experience suffering of some kind. You 
are punished to some extent by your wickedness. 
From this fact, familiar to you all, you naturally in- 
fer that the same moral government will be exer- 
cised over you in another world. This inference is 
confirmed by your views of the impartiality of your 
Father, and the instructions of his commissioned Sa- 
viour. By reflecting on your own depravity, and the 
certain and righteous retributions for 'iniquity, you 
are necessarily led to inquire w r hat you must do to 
be saved ; to be delivered from the natural conse- 
quences of your disobedience ; to be rendered con- 
stantly joyful and happy, and to be prepared for a 
triumphant death and a glorious entrance up- 
on the rewards of the righteous ? To these 
questions Jesus has returned satisfactory answers. 
He teaches you that salvation is deliverance 
from sin, ignorance and error, and the possession 
of knowledge, truth and holiness. And he saves 
us by giving us a knowledge of the truth, and 
motives to the practice of our duty. He saves us 
by the principles and discoveries of his religion, and 
by the assurance of a future existence and a right- 
eous retribution. He allures us into the paths of 
virtue and safety by his own bright example, the rea- 
sonableness of his teachings, and the sacred sanc- 
tions and consolations of the gospel. 

You thus perceive that the great work of salva- 
tion consists in becoming truly virtuous and pious ; 
in believing the instructions of Jesus, and obeying his 
commands. To these we must give our unremitting 



221 

attention. Being dependent and sinful creatures we 
must render to our Creator gratitude, resignation, 
obedience, confidence and affection. Being breth- 
ren, we must render to others the same rights and 
privileges, attentions and kindnesses, which we claim 
from them. Being imperfect in our nature, we must 
control and govern our appetites, tempers, passions 
and imaginations. If then we believe the truth, and 
practise what is right, we are saved for time : we aue 
saved for eternity. And we are assured by pur 
teacher and our experience that our happiness must 
be proportioned to our moral goodness. To effect 
all this the instructions of our Saviour are perfectly 
adapted. They are fitted for all ages and condi- 
tions, all relations and characters. Go not then to 
the publican or the sinner ; go not to the pharisee 
or sadducee ; go not to this or that leader of a reli- 
gious party ; but go directly to the inspired Jesus, 
who is the way, the truth, and the life ; and from his 
unerring declarations learn the true way of salvation.^ 
4. From the instructions of Jesus you may learn 
the true consolation for all your afflictions. Our 
happiness is disturbed by two causes; by our own 
misconduct, and by those adverse events above hu- 
man control. The sufferings of our own causing are 
the natural consequences of our wicked actions, our 
ungoverned passions, our sinful habits. Those aris- 
ing from afflictive occurrences consist in disappoint- 
ments, bereavements, mental or bodily anguish, and 
distressing grief. . And where will you find a reme- 
dy for these trials ? In Christ Jesus. He teaches 
20 



you that reformation is the cure, and the only cure, 
for the misery of sinfulness. If you avoid wicked- 
ness you will escape its punishments. Whenever, 
therefore, any thing wrong is discovered in your 
opinions, dispositions, conversation or conduct, let it 
be exchanged for what is right and beneficial, and 
the consequence will be enjoyment and satisfaction. 
Reformation then as you learn from experience as 
well as from your divinely qualified teacher, is the 
only remedy for those evils which you bring upon 
yourselves by your transgressions, and over which 
you can exert a saving influence. 

As to those trials which are permitted by our 
heavenly Father, the only adequate consolation is to 
be found in our obedience to the lessons of our 
teacher. He assures us that our loving Parent is 
ever present with us all ; that he orders the events 
of our lives in goodness, and that he designs our 
spiritual welfare in all his dispensations. These prin- 
ciples, when reduced to constant belief and prac- 
tice, will give us peace and comfort in the darkest 
hour of sorrow. When our fondest hopes are blast- 
ed ; when the hand of poverty has pressed us to the 
earth ; when disease has prostrated us on a bed of 
sickness ; when the loss of endeared friends has fill- 
ed our hearts with grief, we must look to our Fa- 
ther in confidence. We must realize that he is the 
author of our troubles, and that he is ever ready to 
relieve our distresses when they have produced their 
destined effects upon our characters. If then you 
would have consolation under all your afflictions, go 



223 

not to the cup of dissipation ; go not to the visions of 
despair and self-destruction ; go not to the society of 
the giddy and thoughtless ; go not to the cold and 
dismal teachings of skepticism ; but go directly to 
him who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with 
grief, who was tried as we are and can be touched 
with a feeling of our infirmities, and from him learn 
to have your daily and hourly conduct declare your 
practical and cheerful resignation to the divine will.. 
5. From the instructions of Jesus you may learn 
the true doctrine of another existence. When you 
behold a friend in the embraces of death, you wish 
to be informed if he will ever awake. You desire 
to know if there be a second life beyond the grave. 
This inquiry is natural to the human heart. It has 
been asked and repeated by all nations, and by all 
nations answered in the affirmative, but left unprov- 
ed. All have hoped for immortality, although their 
hope has rested on a feeble foundation. How then 
shall we become rationally convinced that we are 
to survive the dissolution of our bodies ; and from 
whom can we learn the character the of next stage 
of being ? From the anointed Jesus. He alone has 
brought life and immortality to light. He explicitly 
and authoritatively informs us of our future desti- 
nation. To demonstrate the truth of this most im- 
portant doctrine, he submitted to the ignominious 
death of the cross, that he might not only confirm 
his instructions, but also be raised to an immortal 
life. And all shall come forth, those who have 
done good unto the resurrection of life, and those 



224 

who have done evil unto the resurrection of con- 
demnation. All this is rational, consistent, desirable. 
All this is well calculated to exert a wonderful 
influence on our character and happiness. And all 
this cannot be learned from any other teacher. If 
then you would know the true destination of man, 
go not to the ancient Egyptian, for he will promise 
you another life only in the body of some other 
animal. Go not to the mussulman, for he presents 
you with nothing but a sensual paradise. Go not to 
ancient philosophy, for she never discovered any 
better world than the present. Go to none of these 
religions, for they are earthly, sensual, degraded. 
No. Go directly to Jesus, who is the resurrection 
and the life, who is the first fruits of them who slept, 
and who has gone to prepare mansions in his 
Father's house for all his obedient children. 

II. But why should we learn of this heaven sent 
teacher. 

1. We should learn of Jesus, because of the 
excellency of his qualifications. He was perfectly 
qualified to impart all needed religious instruction. 
This we know from his testimonials. For you 
recollect that when he finished his sermon on the 
mount, the people. were astonished at his doctrine, 
and declared that he spoke as one having authority. 
On another occasion the Jews inquired, whence 
hath this man this wisdom, having never learned ? 
His own answer is sufficiently satisfactory. The 
words which I speak are not mine, but his who sent 
me. Even his enemies testified that man never 
spake like that man. The Jewish ruler affirmed 



225 

that no man could perform the miracles which he 
wrought, except God were with him. And now 
add to all this the voice from heaven. This is my 
beloved son ; hear ye him. Surely our all-wise 
Father would not have commanded us to hear one 
who was not qualified to instruct us in everything 
essential to our salvation. 

Now you cannot suspect the vajue of his creden- 
tials, when you notice the commentary of his own 
example. He practised what he taught. In his 
own person he exhibited such a character as he 
wished to form in others. He was not like the 
pharisaic instructers, who laid heavy burdens upon 
other men's shoulders, but performed none of the la- 
bor themselves. His belief exerted a constant influ- 
ence on his heart and life, Every command he gave 
to others he obeyed himself. He indeed knew what 
lessons were needed ; for he took not on him the 
nature of angels, but he took upon him the seed of 
Abraham. He was made like unto his brethren, yet 
without sin; like them he was tempted, exposed 
to poverty and persecution and affliction. From 
his own experience he understood the wants of 
human nature. Of course, he was qualified by 
divine love for their instruction and salvation. But 
to crown the whole, he laid down his life as a wit- 
ness to the truth, and for the redemption of the 
world. This was indeed necessary to perfect his 
example, to seal the sincerity of his pretensions, and 
to give efficacy to the gospel. And what other 
qualifications did he need ? None at all ; for he 
20* 



226 

possessed such powers as no earthly teacher ever 
enjoyed. And shall not this induce you to learn of 
him ? Will you not renounce all allegiance to 
mere earthly masters, and cleave unto him alone as 
the author and finisher of your faith ? 

2. We should learn of Jesus, because of the ex- 
cellency of his instructions. They contain truth 
without error. They are rational and consistent. 
They are practical and consolatory. They are 
adapted to the wants and necessities of human 
beings. They are designed to promote inward 
purity, outward virtue, and unfailing enjoyment. 
They secure the assent of every unperverted under- 
standing, and the warm affection of every unpolluted 
heart. When made the rule of belief and practice, 
they answer their wise and holy purpose. They are 
not only true, but infinitely important. They have 
little reference to the trifles of a transitory world. 
They relate to those topics most deeply inter- 
esting to immortal spirits. To such what can' 
be more interesting than a knowledge of their 
Creator, their own character, their present du- 
ties, their means of consolation under affliction 
and their future destination ? Nothing. And from 
our heaven inspired teacher w T e obtain this know- 
ledge, and every other which is necessary to our 
peace and happiness in time and eternity. 

Not only so. These instructions are not only 
true and important, but really divine. Hear the 
declaration of Jesus himself. As the Father gave 
me commandment, so I speak. If so, as we have 
sufficient evidence to believe, then they are from 



1 227 

heaven. Compare them with any human teachings 
which have ever appeared, in any age or nation or 
language ; and what is the result ? Men have 
thought and written on the same and similar sub- 
jects, from the first dawn of civilization to the pres- 
ent hour. But can you point to one of the hundreds 
and thousands of systems, which contains either a 
rational and consistent and pure faith, or a code of 
laws adapted to the. wants of imperfect, sinful, suf- 
fering, dying immortals ? If then the words of 
Jesus are so excellent, so far surpass all human 
compositions, will you not make them the man of 
your counsel and the rule of your conduct ? 

3. We should learn of Jesus because of the 
excellency of those who have obeyed his instruc- 
tions. All who receive him for their master in 
religion, and resemble him in their temper and con- 
duct are his obedient disciples. And are not all 
such more excellent in their characters than believ- 
ers in false religions ; the savages, the hindoos, the 
mahometans ? Are they not also better than those 
who live in christian lands, and yet do not make the 
religion of Jesus their guide in belief and practice ? 
Between these classes it is indeed difficult or 
rather impossible to make an impartial comparison. 
For all who have been educated in gospel privileges 
have received more or less christian instruction ; 
and they are actuated more or less by christian 
motives and principles, and they have formed more 
or fewer christian habits. Yet there is a decided 
difference between those who conscientiously en- 
deavor to learn of Christ Jesus, and those who pay 



228 ' 

no intentional regard to his teachings. And this dis- 
tinction is sufficiently manifest in most cases to be 
noticed. In short, who are the best husbands and 
wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, 
friends and neighbors? Are they not those who 
live in nearest accordance with the precepts and 
example of Jesus? Most assuredly. No one will 
dispute this truth. If then you desire to be good 
in all the relations of life, will you not endeavor to 
receive Jesus as your infallible teacher ? 

Thus, my friends, have I set before you Christ 
Jesus as your inspired religious teacher. And do 
you not need his instructions for .life, for death, for 
eternity ? Certainly. You need them now, to 
enlighten your minds with a knowledge of truth 
and duty ; to guard you from temptation and sin.; 
to support you under the trials of your pilgrimage ; 
to console you in hours of affliction and sorrow, 
and to give you unfailing peace and happiness. 
You w^ill need them in the hour of death, to yield 
you pleasing reflections on the past; to arm you 
with fortitude for the moment of dissolution ; to 
brighten your prospects of immortal blessedness, 
and to give you joy and rapture when you bid adieu 
to all earthly objects. You will need their effects 
in eternity, to qualify you for the employments and 
enjoyments of the heavenly world. You are there- 
fore urged by all you hold most dear and sacred 
in life, in death, in eternity, to receive Jesus as 
your anointed Saviour and teacher. For you must 
know that no man could do those miracles which 
he did when on earth, except God be with him. 



SERMON XIX. 



THE GOSPEL A SAFE GUIDE OF FAITH AND 
PRACTICE. 



PSALM CXIX. 105. THY AVORI) IS A LAMP UNTO MY FEET, 
AND A LIGHT UNTO MY PATH. 



If you have ever ventured out in the darkness of 
night, you have doubtless experienced some diffi- 
culty in finding a safe and pleasant path. But if 
at any time you took a lighted lamp, you will 
recollect that it shed a bright ray directly before you ; 
and that so long as you travelled in its brightness, 
you easily avoided difficulties and dangers. When 
however any temptation seduced you from the 
enlightened way, you soon found yourself in trouble 
again, stumbling over the various obstacles which 
impeded your progress. Not only so. If at any 
time several of you were in company, you will 
remember that the light of your lamp was sufficient 
to enable you all to proceed together in safety and 
comfort. But whenever you halted to dispute 
about the nature of the surrounding objects, upon 
which your taper cast but a dim and indistinct light. 



230 

your enjoyment ceased, and your feelings became 
excited, and angry, and painful. As a lamp in a 
dark night renders your walk safe and pleasant, so 
the gospel of Jesus enlightens and blesses the jour- 
ney of human life. 

Let me apply this illustration. We are in a 
world of darkness and doubt, of temptation and 
wickedness, of suffering and affliction, of misery and 
death. The gospel of Jesus is given to enlighten 
our minds, to solve our difficulties, to make us 
acquainted with our duties, to purify our hearts, to 
sustain us under our trials, to console us in our 
afflictions, to make us cheerful and happy by mak- 
ing us virtuous and holy. And if we open our 
understandings to this divine light, and avoid the 
tempers and practices which it forbids, and regulate 
our motives and affections according to its directions, 
and perform all its commanded duties, and obey 
and imitate the great captain of our salvation, we 
pass along the current of time securely and joyfully. 
The more perfectly we conform to his requisitions, 
the more happiness we shall secure. This must be 
admitted by every candid observer. But on the 
other hand, if we prefer darkness rather than light, 
and reject the counsels of religion, and slight the 
invitations of mercy, and disregard the voice of 
wisdom, and live a thoughtless or dissipated life, we 
become involved in guilt and wretchedness. The 
farther we depart from the precepts of Jesus, the 
more misery we bring upon ourselves. This every 
one must acknowledge. 



231 

Not only so. If at" any time several of us unite 
together as christian travellers, so long as we 
walk in the unerring light of the divine lamp, 
and abide by the clear decisions of the gospel, 
we shall walk in peace and harmony and happi- 
ness. But whenever we begin to dispute and quar- 
rel about those points which are either obscure- 
ly revealed or imperfectly understood, our christian 
union, felicity and improvement will terminate. 
Our souls will become disturbed and tormented 
with uncharitable feelings and unhallowed passions. 
All this must be regarded as undisputed truth, con- 
firmed by experience and observation. This being 
the fact, I wish to induce you all to receive the 
gospel as a lamp to your feet and a light to your 
path. And I would urge you to this duty from one 
plain consideration. It is this. The christian reli- 
gion is the only safe and sufficient guide of religious 
faith and practice. It is the only rule of belief and 
conduct which can ensure your present enjoyment 
and everlasting felicity. 

1. But perhaps you will first inquire, if reason is 
not a safe and sufficient guide of faith and practice ? 
To this question I have no hesitation in returning a 
decided negative. I am bold to assert that unaided 
reason is not a safe and sufficient guide. I believe 
1 can prove the truth of this assertion to the full 
satisfaction of every candid hearer. I shall merely 
refer you for evidence to several classes of well 
known and indisputable facts. Look to all those 
nations of both ancient and modern times which 
never received the gospel. Have they not uniform- 



232 

\y been worshippers of idols ; deities of their own 
making or creation ? Notice Greece and Rome, 
the two most enlightened, refined, educated, un- 
christian people who have ever inhabited this globe. 
And can you read the history of their gods, the gods 
which were reverenced by some of their philosophers 
as well as by their most ignorant dependants, with- 
out a smile at their absurdity. If you survey the 
less civilized communities you find their belief on 
this subject still more childish and degrading. And 
can you mention one unchristian nation, except the 
Hebrews, of either ancient or modern times, whose 
belief respecting superior powers, gods and god- 
esses, is rational ? Not one. You must pronounce 
their views uniformly absurd, irrational, ridiculous, 
degrading. Here then you see the fruits of unaid- 
ed reason ; the inventions of unenlightened reason ; 
all that boasted reason could accomplish on this 
most important question. In view of these incon- 
trovertible statements, must you not conclude that 
reason is not a safe and sufficient guide of religious 
faith. And on examination you will find her con- 
clusions on most other topics of belief equally 
unsatisfactory and unreasonable. 

Not only so. Has the conduct of unchristian 
nations been any better than their religious faith? 
Not at all. They have uniformly been addicted to 
the most barbarous cruelties and the most abomin- 
able immoralities. Read the page of history for 
yourselves. Have they not universally treated the 
female sex as inferior beings, as slaves to their 



233 

lusts and passions, as degraded menials ? Have 
they known anything of the delights of home, 
of domestic endearments and enjoyments, of the 
sweet and holy affections of family ? Have they not 
very generally yielded themselves servants to their 
appetites and propensities, and debased themselves 
to a level with the brutes ? Have they not offered 
human sacrifices, and in some instances destroyed 
their own relatives and children ? And was not all 
this done at the suggestion of unaided reason? 
Survey the heathen nations of the present period. 
Does their reason lead them to the practice of. good 
morals? — to such duties as are essential to the pres- 
ent welfare of individuals, families and communities ? 
By no means, if we may believe unprejudiced 
human testimony. Now here is another class of 
facts which no one can doubt or deny. They fur- 
nish an unanswerable argument in favor of my posi- 
tion. The more it is examined the stronger will be 
its influence. It is therefore fully evident to my 
mind that unaided reason is not a safe and sufficient 
guide of faith and practice. 

Now I would not be understood to decry or dis- 
parage reason. By no means. For it is the first 
best gift of our Father. There is a spirit in man 
and the inspiration of the Almighty has given him 
understanding. The spirit of man is the candle of 
the Lord. But reason and understanding alone are 
not sufficient to insure our highest earthly perfection 
and happiness. This is made fully evident by the 
example of all heathen nations. We need more 
21 



234 

light. This is^ given in the gospel, as you may- 
learn from experience and observation. For you 
well know that those individuals and communities 
whose belief conforms most nearly to the very words 
of the Saviour, and whose characters correspond 
most closely to his example, are the most reason- 
able in their faith, the most virtuous in their prac- 
tice, the most benevolent towards others, and the 
most happy in their lives. So that no person of the 
least candor and information can doubt the necessity 
of a revelation, or the beneficial tendency of pure Chris- 
tianity. And all this brings no degradation on rea- 
son. No. Revelation is not designed to supersede 
reason ; it is simply the perfection of reason ; it 
reveals nothing contrary to reason ; it brings to 
light truths which unaided reason had never dis- 
covered, but truths which reason heartily embra- 
ces as soon as comprehended. And without the 
full and free exercise of reason, revelation would 
be of no service whatever. For it is the province of 
reason to examine and decide on the evidence 
which supports revelation ; and also to investigate 
the meaning and embrace the discoveries of revela- 
tion ; for one cannot be received without satisfactory 
testimony, and the other cannot be believed unless 
rational and consistent. Such is the gospel, sup- 
ported by the most convincing evidence, and incul- 
cating nothing contrary to sound reason. While then 
we are unspeakably grateful for our distinguishing 
attribute of reason, let us also manifest equal grati- 
tude for that revelation which has raised us so far 



235 

above every unchristian nation of ancient or modern 
times. Let us increase and invigorate our gratitude 
by making ourselves acquainted with the condition, 
religion and happiness of all heathen nations ; and 
let us manifest more fully our gratitude by exercis- 
ing our reason in the study of the higher light of 
revelation, and conforming more carefully to all its 
requisitions. 

2. But perhaps you will next inquire if conscience 
is not a safe and sufficient guide of faith and prac- 
tice ? This question I shall also answer in the neg- 
ative. I fearlessly affirm that unenlightened con- 
science is not a safe and sufficient guide. And I 
think I can prove the truth of this position to the 
perfect satisfaction of intelligent and candid hearers. 
I shall again refer you to several classes of well 
known and indisputable facts. Look once more to 
unchristian nations. Why did our heathen ances- 
tors in the mother land sacrifice their children to im- 
aginary and cruel deities ? To satisfy their con- 
science. "Why does the hindoo widow burn herself 
on the funeral pile of her departed husband ? To 
quiet her conscience. And in any of these commu- 
nities, has conscience made them good husbands and 
wives, good parents and children, good friends and 
neighbors ? Has it secured them much personal, 
domestic, or religious enjoyment ? I need not ask 
these questions of the well informed. You know 
that idolatry, superstition, licentiousness the most de- 
grading, cruelties the most shocking, are the fruits of 
their conscience. This simple reference to the reli- 



236 

gion and morality of heathen nations must satisfy all 
that unenlightened conscience is not a safe guide of 
faith and practice. 

But perhaps you will now ask, if inhabitants of 
christian lands may safely obey conscience in pre- 
ference to the gospel ? No. This experiment has 
been fairly tried. The catholics formerly persecuted 
and murdered the protestants ; and all in obedience 
to conscience. The protestants in turn not only 
murdered the catholics but those of their own de- 
nomination who would not swear to a human creed ; 
and all for conscience sake. Our pious forefathers 
banished the baptists, and murdered the quakers, 
and hung the supposed witches ; and all to satisfy 
conscience, falsely so called. At the present day 
you may see professing christians in various sects 
who are guilty of practices which are unscriptural ; 
and conscience is pleaded in excuse. Now is such 
christian fruit ? Is it obeying the golden rule ? I 
think not. And if all were to have such conscien- 
ces, the world would again soon be filled with blood 
and violence. If then you consider these well 
known facts ; the irrational belief and abominable 
practices of heathens ; the inconsistent faith and un- 
righteous conduct of professing christians, when they 
prefer what they call conscience to the gospel, you 
must admit that conscience unenlightened is no safe 
and sufficient guide. 

Now I would not say one word to injure the in- 
fluence of a good conscience. For I regard it as of 
great value and importance. The evil is here* J& 



237 

unchristian nations the people have had no means of 
educating conscience ; no sufficient and satisfactory- 
means. And in christian lands, many have mistaken 
their prejudices, their will, their passions, their igno- 
rance, their bigotry, for the dictates of conscience. 
They have set what they called conscience above 
revelation, and then proceeded to commit unchris- 
tian practices. But the proper course is to cultivate 
conscience ; to enlighten it at the ever burning lamp 
of revelation ; to follow its dictates so far as they 
conform to the plain instructions of Jesus, and no 
farther. Thus conscience would prove a most valu- 
able and faithful monitor, and would generally direct 
us to walk in the way of truth and duty. While 
therefore we are grateful for the gift of conscience, 
which in an unenlightened state is not a safe and 
sufficient guide, let us be still more grateful for the 
means of educating and enlightening it in all things 
essential to peace and holiness. 

Now the only way of determining the question, 
whether reason and conscience are safe and sufficient 
guides of faith and practice, is to consider the exam- 
ple of those nations which have never received the 
christian revelation. They have surely done for 
such people all they could do in an unenlightened 
state for any people. For some of them in both an- 
cient and modern times have taken high ground in 
mental cultivation ; and all of them have had suffi- 
cient time to make a fair experiment. And no man 
of intelligence will contend that heathen nations are 
to be compared with christian lands, in point of 
21* 



238 

rational belief, and correct morals, and real enjoy- 
ment. When you appeal to the reason and con- 
science of those who reject the gospel among our- 
selves, you must remember that they have received 
a christian education, and are greatly indebted to 
the influences of the gospel for what is rational in 
their creeds or correct in their characters. For it 
would be absurd to suppose their reason and con- 
science, if unaided by the light of revelation, would 
have led to anything better than the reason and con- 
science of the Greeks and Romans, Chinese and 
Hindoos. Our conclusion then is firmly established, 
that unaided reason and unenlightened conscience 
are not safe and sufficient guides of faith and prac- 
tice ; because they have not led to a pure and 
rational faith or a virtuous and holy character. 

3. You will now ask me, why the gospel is a safe 
and sufficient guide of faith and practice ? Because 
this is the decision of reason, experience, observa- 
tion and conscience. The instructions of Jesus are 
perfectly adapted to the nature of man, to his inher- 
ent wants, his absolute necessities, his unavoidable 
circumstances, his intellectual and moral powers, 
his tempted and suffering condition, his perfection 
and happiness. Let me illustrate this remark by a 
few examples. The gospel assures you that there 
is one all perfect, ever present spiritual being, who 
is in deed and in truth your affectionate and un- 
changeable Father. Now is not this truth confirmed 
by the soundest conclusions of your reason, the 
clearest intimations of your conscience, and the best 



239 

feelings of your heart. Can there be anything 
unsafe in cherishing this belief, and in rendering 
love, gratitude, obedience, submission and confidence 
to this fountain of all good? On the contrary have 
not those who have rejected this truth been more 
or' less immoral and unhappy ? While those who 
have adhered to this faith have been supported in 
trial, aided, in duty, preserved in happiness? 
Existing facts fully justify this conclusion. The 
gospel also requires you to do unto your fellow men 
as you would have them do unto you. And is 
this requisition unreasonable ? Is it not a fact that 
those who depart farthest from this golden rule of 
duty, are most dishonest in their dealings, unkind 
in' their feelings, avaricious in their dispositions, and 
miserable in their lives ? Is it not a fact that those 
who live in nearest conformity to this injunction, 
are uniformly most virtuous and respected and hap- 
py ? This every one can see for himself; and con- 
sequently no one can call it unsafe to obey this pre- 
cept of Jesus. The gospel likewise assures us that 
w T e shall all live again, and be rewarded or punished 
according to our deeds. And is there anything 
unsafe or irrational in this belief? Have not those 
who rejected this article of the christian creed been 
made more or less miserable by their unbelief. 
And in the hour of dissolution have they not 
frequently manifested the insufficiency and wretch- 
edness of infidelity ? Abundant facts establish this 
position. Now I might make a similar remarks 
respecting every precept and prohibition of Jesus. 



240 

He requires us to believe no doctrines but such as 
are rational and productive of consolation and hap- 
piness. He commands no duties but such as are 
easy of performance and necessary to the full per- 
fection of a rational and moral character. He 
forbids no practices or dispositions but such as are 
necessarily attended or followed by punishment. 
Now will a person endanger his safety or his enjoy- 
ment by believing and practising all that is revealed 
and required ? Or will he find his faith and his 
christian character deficient for the purposes of sup- 
port and consolation in any hour of need. No. 
This no one can justly pretend. On the. contrary 
will not a man's goodness and happiness depend on 
his faith and practice, and be increased just in pro- 
portion to his conformity to the requisitions of Chris- 
tianity ? Here then is a satisfactory reason why you 
should make the word of God a lamp to your feet 
and a light to your path. 

Perhaps you will now ask, how you are to make 
the gospel your guide of faith and practice ? Study 
the instructions of Jesus and his apostles. What- 
ever doctrines you find plainly revealed, receive as 
divine truth ; and let them exert a salutary influence 
on your hearts and characters. Whatever virtues 
you find plainly enjoyed, endeavor to acquire; and 
thus aim to form a christian character. Whatever 
feelings or tempers or practices you find plainly con- 
demned, strive to forsake and avoid ; and in all this 
act from principle. That is, seek to know the will 
of God, what is right, and practice accordingly, 



241 

without fear of consequences. Adhere to the path 
of rectitude with unwavering perseverance. Yield 
not to the temptations of indolence, or popularity, 
or interest, or pleasure. Pursue this course and you 
will find no difficulty. Your satisfaction will in- 
crease. Your character will improve. You will 
be useful and happy. You will pass through this 
life joyfully, and be prepared for a blessed immor- 
tality* 

But if the gospel is so plain and safe a guide, why 
is there so much controversy respecting its true 
meaning ? There is little or no disputing about 
what is absolutely essential either to good morals, 
or present and future salvation. The contentions 
of all ages have usually related to some obscure 
and unimportant subject. It is precisely like this ; 
should you be walking by the dim light of a lamp 
in a dark night, and all at once come to a stand, 
and dispute warmly whether a certain tree beside 
you produced apples or pears. By waiting for 
more light you might readily decide the question. 
So christians may dispute about things either imag- 
ined, or obscurely revealed, but they can never 
come to an amicable settlement without more know- 
ledge. And if they were wise enough and good 
enough to wait until we enter the other world, all 
our doubts and darkness on these particular sub- 
jects would be removed. But take everything 
really necessary to a good and happy life, a peace- 
ful and triumphant death, and a blissful immortality, 
and how plainly is it revealed ? What can be more 



242 

explicit than the following declarations? This is 
life eternal, that they might know thee the only 
true God ; and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. 
The hour cometh and now is when the true wor- 
shippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. 
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart 
and mind and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself. If 
you follow these plain and intelligible instructions, 
all will be well with you in time ; all will be well 
with you in eternity. 

Why then should we dispute about what is not 
essential to salvation. Because we are blamed 
and denounced for rejecting what we deem error, 
and believing what we consider truth. For instance, 
I have evidence to convince me that God exists in 
one mind, one person, one will. For receiving this 
truth on the explicit testimony of Jesus and all 
prophets and apostles, I am called a heretic, infidel, 
demon ; denied the christian name, rights, hopes ; 
and sentenced to endless torments for my honest 
convictions. Now 1 must engage in controversy to 
maintain my inalienable rights, to defend myself 
against blind ignorance or wilful bigotry, to show 
that this doctrine is as plainly taught in scripture as 
the very existence of God, and to convince those 
who condemn me of their pernicious practical errors. 
If my opponents would allow me the same privileges 
which they claim for themselves ; if they would 
leave me to the unmolested enjoyment of my honest 
opinions ; if they would do as they wish to be done 
by, there would be little need of controversy. But 



243 

when our characters and hopes are assailed merely 
on account of our sincere sentiments; when we are 
excluded from the communion table and the baptis- 
mal fount solely on account of our belief; and when 
too we are accountable to no human authority for our 
faith, then indeed it becomes a duty to defend our 
precious rights and christian privileges. Let all the 
blame therefore of theological warfare fall where it 
belongs, upon those who are unwilling to do unto 
others as they would have others do unto them. 
And when ministers and people shall conform more 
sacredly to the precepts and example of Jesus, then 
and not till then, shall we have peace and union in 
the christian world. 



SERMON XX. 



YOUTH PERSUADED TO BECOME PRACTICAI 
CHRISTIANS. 



JOSHUA XXIV. 15. CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL 
S*ERVE. 



I would invite your attention, my young friends, 
to some remarks on practical religion. I wish to 
persuade you to commence in earnest the important 
work of religious reformation and improvement. I do 
not indeed mean to insinuate that your characters are 
immoral or that your sentiments are heathenish. Your 
dispositions may be amiable, your habits virtuous and 
your belief christian ; and still you may confess to 
yourselves and others that you are not real chris- 
tians. I must therefore take you on your own con- 
fession, and urge you to delay no longer the great 
business of salvation; to choose this day whom you 
will serve. 

I. What is implied in making choice of practical 
religion 

1. Decision is the first requisition. You are 
therefore solemnly requested to decide, not wheth- 
er you will prefer Christianity to paganism or 



245 

mahometanism or Judaism, for I shall take it for 
granted that you believe in the divine origin of the 
gospel. If however you either doubt or disbelieve 
a truth so fundamental, the question cannot now be 
settled, because much examination of evidence may 
be necessary to your conviction and satisfaction. 
You are affectionately entreated to decide, not 
which denomination of believers has embraced the 
most truth and the fewest errors, for I consider your 
regular attendance in this church a sufficient acknow- 
ledgement of your unitarian opinions. But if you 
either doubt or disbelieve the divinity of liberal 
Christianity, the inquiry cannot be determined this 
day ; for much time and reflection and investigation 
may be requisite for conversion and instruction. 
No. You are solemnly and affectionately urged to 
decide a more important question. Will you con- 
scientiously endeavor to become practical chris- 
tians. Will you receive Christ Jesus as your only 
master in matters of religion ? Will you make his 
instructions the guide of your faith and practice ? 
Will you avoid all that he has forbidden, in thought, 
temper, words and actions ? Will you pursue all 
that he has commanded, in your relations to your 
fellow men, your Saviour and your heavenly 
Father? This then is the inquiry you are now 
called upon to decide ; and your decision on this 
topic may be made this very day. For you have 
evidence to enable you to arrive at a proper con- 
clusion. You have seen those whose youth was 
innocent and virtuous, whose earthly prospects were 
22 



246 

bright and promising, and whose hopes of prosperi- 
ty and happiness were strong and ardent. They 
never determined to be either irreligious or immoral. 
They did not rush into vice and wretchedness. 
But they never decided to be practical christians ; 
and at this door the destroyer entered. One slight 
indulgence led to another more aggravated. One 
short step in the path of dissipation paved the way 
for a longer. At length habits of excess began to 
form and strengthen, until the victim had lost all 
regard to character. Their ruined prospects were 
the natural consequence of their want of decision. 
On the other hand, you may notice those who do 
honor to their nature and their profession. They 
early resolved to obey the captain of their salvation. 
They persevered against all temptations and obsta- 
cles, until the straight and narrow path of duty 
became plain and pleasant. They are now reaping 
the rewards of their honest exertions, in the appro- 
bation of their own hearts, in their respectability and 
usefulness, and in the promised blessing of heaven. 
Both classes you have observed. And now which 
will you imitate ? Will you neglect to choose the 
paths of religion until too late ? Until you have 
wandered too far in the labyrinths of iniquity ever 
to return to the regions of innocence and peace ? 
Or will you secure the good part which can never 
be taken from you, in any period of trial or perse- 
cution or affliction ? I entreat you to make your 
decision on this momentous inquiry. I wish you to 
decide honestly and impartially. Count well the 



247 

cost of the undertaking. Look at the advantages 
and disadvantages. Observe that an irreligious life, 
is ever attended with uneasiness and anxiety, is un- 
prepared for trials and afflictions, is unqualified for 
pure and rational happiness, may soon degenerate 
into open immorality, may terminate in a wretched 
death, and may lead to regions of unutterable disap- 
pointment and sorrow. Observe on the other hand 
that a christian course ensures the approbation of 
conscience, gives inward peace and security, fur- 
nishes a defence against temptation and anxiety, 
secures rational and elevated enjoyment, prepares 
for a cheerful submission to the divine will, qualifies 
for a joyful death and a blissful immortality. At 
first you may find it easiest to remain thoughtless 
and unconcerned ; to pass along the flowing current 
of time inactive, and to maintain just enough of 
virtue to secure a respectable place in society. But 
the path of holiness, although it may present some 
difficulties to those who have evil habits to over- 
come, undisciplined passions to conquer, uneasy pro- 
pensities to restrain, unprincipled associates to shake 
off, will soon -grow smoother and brighter and pleas- 
anter, as you increase in knowledge and goodness. 
Choose you then this day whom you will serve. 
If you choose Jesus for your master, as I trust most 
of you will, you will immediately proceed to the 
execution of your resolution. 

2. Practice then is the second requisition. You 
have decided to be obedient christians. You will 
immediately eommence the prescribed labor. And 



248 

what is to be done ? Why, you are to aim to do 
right at all times and in all your relations. You 
are to avoid the wrong in all things and under all 
circumstances. You can do but one deed in one 
instant. Almost every moment you will be tempt- 
ed either to neglect the right or pursue the wrong. 
Resist the temptation, and your work is well begun, 
and will lead to a happy termination. When there- 
fore you retire from this place, let self-examination 
occupy your attention. Carefully compare your- 
selves, your thoughts, motives, feelings, dispositions, 
conversation and conduct, with the christian standard. 
Your relation to your heavenly Father requires you 
to render supreme love, spiritual and sincere devo- 
tion, habitual gratitude, cheerful resignation, un- 
wavering confidence and unreserved obedience. In 
how many of these duties are you' deficient ? How 
many do you perform in a thoughtless manner? 
And how many do you engage in from unworthy 
motives? Your relation to Christ Jesus requires 
you to study his instructions, believe his teachingSj 
imitate his example, exhibit his heavenly spirit and 
submit to his authority. In how many of these 
virtues are you deficient? How many have you 
entirely omitted or greatly slighted? And how 
many have you performed from unchristian impulses 
or in an unchristian manner? Your relation to 
your fellow men requires you to love them as your 
brethren, and ever to do unto them as you would 
have them do unto you. And this golden rule 
extends to your very principles of action, your daily 



249 

and hourly intercourse, your whole connexion in 
every particular. In how many instances have you 
violated this law of love, either by injuring the feel- 
ings, influence or property of your neighbors ; or by 
misrepresenting their motives, words, or actions? 
Your relation to your own soul requires you to be 
temperate in all things, meek and humble in your 
dispositions; and to practice, unwearied selfrdisci- 
pline and self-cultivation. In how many of these 
requisites have you failed, and in how many suc- 
ceeded? By thus examining your hearts and 
characters, and comparing yourselves with your 
great examplar, you will learn your deficiences and 
iniquities. 

Having faithfully accomplished this primary step 
in the path of holiness, you will be fully prepared to 
proceed with your work of reformation and improve- 
ment. You must not be alarmed at the magnitude 
of the undertaking ; for you are expected .to do but 
one deed at one time. You must not look forward 
to the great obstacles to your progress, and thus be- 
come weary in well doing. No. Your whole atten- 
tion must be directed to the present instant. Are 
you performing the duties and cherishing the dispo- 
sitions incumbent on you this instant ? This is to be 
the everlasting question. You are to watch the 
passing second to see that you indulge in -no sinful 
thoughts, feelings, affections, conversation, conduct ; 
to ascertain if your motives, meditations, dispositions 
and habits are christian. Let this be done now, and 
the next instant, and so on, from morning's light 
22* 



250 

to evening's shade, and you will be living a religious 
life. Your work of salvation from ignorance, error 
and sin will be constantly going forward. At one 
time you will detect an imperfection in your doctri- 
nal opinions, which will be readily surrendered to the 
force of truth. At another you will discover some 
new article of belief, which will be willingly incor- 
porated into your principles of faith. At one time 
you will notice a neglect in your secret devotions 
and adopt measures to prevent a second deviation. 
At another you will banish an improper train of 
thought and supply its place with worthy subjects of 
speculation. At one time the words of unkindness 
and scandal may fall from your lips. The recollec- 
tion of your own imperfections will check the 
growth of the evil and increase your feelings of be- 
nevolence. At another your peace may be disturb- 
ed by peevishness, ill nature or resentment. Such 
propensities you will overcome by the cultivation of 
patience, meekness and humility. And in this mode 
you will proceed from day to day and from year to 
year, correcting one failing and then another, ac- 
quiring one virtue and then another, according to the 
apostolic direction, until you have formed and per- 
fected a christian character. Your increase in good- 
ness will thus be certain. The world may observe 
no immediate change in your behavior; for the pro- 
gress of religious reformation is internal, silent, 
slow, unostentatious. But you will yourselves be 
sensible of important changes. You will be constant- 
ly aiming at one object, the practice of goodness. 



251 

New duties will therefore be performed ; new mo- 
tives and principles will be brought into operation ; 
new joys will be experienced ; erroneous views will 
be discarded ; evil dispositions will be banished ; 
sinful habits will be abandoned, and wicked practi- 
ces forsaken. In all this there will be nothing sud- 
den, nothing mysterious, nothing miraculous, nothing 
but the natural fruit of your wise decision and your 
christian perseverance, aided by the promised assist- 
ance of your Father in heaven. 

3. Profession is the third requisition. When you 
have practised self-correction and self-cultivation suf- 
ficiently long to test the sincerity of your decision, 
you will find pleasure and advantage in professing 
openly your faith in Jesus. He is your acknow- 
ledged master. He has requested his sincere fol- 
lowers to remember him in a positive ordinance. 
This seems to be one of the most common ways of 
confessing your allegiance ; and this is one important 
means of personal improvement. You will obtain 
peace of mind from this compliance, resulting from 
a consciousness of obedience to the last request of 
your dying Saviour. You will also obtain increased 
security against the allurements and temptations of 
a sinful world. You will likewise naturally associ- 
ate with those who will give you valuable advice, 
needed assistance, christian sympathy and encour- 
agement. And knowing that some may be watch- 
ing for your halting, you will make more strenuous 
exertions to avoid the very appearance of evil. But 
your greatest satisfaction will arise from an attend- 



252 

ance upon the supper itself. For there, if faithful 
to yourselves, you will experience new and elevat- 
ing feelings, sacred and aspiring, thoughts, and the 
purest affections, and the best resolutions. And a 
temper, a spirit, will be cherished, which will yield 
you the peaceable fruits of righteousness. You thus 
perceive that in making choice of practical religion, 
three things are requisite. You must first decide, 
whether you will receive Jesus as your only master 
in matters of religion, or whether you will serve the 
corrupt maxims of the world. If you choose the 
gospel for your standard of faith and practice, you 
will in the second place endeavor to comply with its 
requisitions. And having ascertained your sincerity, 
you will not hesitate to confess your Lord before 
men, and thus fulfil all righteousness. Let me then 
put the question to your conscience. Will you not 
resolve to become practical christians? You are 
urged to this course by the most weighty and affect- 
ing considerations. , I have time to mention but three 
particulars. 

1. You are urged to become practical christians by 
your obligations to your heavenly Father. Consider 
your peculiar blessings. Instead of assigning your 
rank among the fowls of the air or the beasts of the 
field, he has created you but a little lower than the 
angels ; endowed you with reason and understanding 
and conscience, and made you capable of acquiring 
knowledge and wisdom and holiness. Instead of 
giving you birth in an age of darkness or in a land 
of ignorance, he has called you into being in this 



253 

enlightened period of the world, and in this favored 
region of good learning, civil liberty and religious 
freedom. Instead of leaving you to the dim light of 
unaided reason and uninformed conscience to learn 
your duty, destination and happiness, he has sent 
his well beloved son to dispel the clouds of super- 
stition and error, to make the path of virtue plain 
before you, to support you under the changes and 
trials of this mortal pilgrimage, and to open to you 
the door of immortal felicity. Instead of permitting 
the summons of death to sound in your hearing, he 
has preserved you amidst dangers seen and unseen, 
in times of sickness and destruction, and given you 
all needed mercies richly to enjoy. In short, every 
blessing, personal, domestic, religious, social, litera- 
ry and civil which you have received and enjoyed 3 
has been graciously bestowed upon you by your 
ever-present and unchangeable Father. And what 
have been your returns for such unmerited favors ? 
Look back on your past lives. Do they furnish any 
claims to such distinctions ? Have they not been 
marked by forgetfulness, ingratitude, disobedience ? 
Are you not then called upon by every generous 
principle of your heart, by every obligation which 
can influence a rational being, to. reform your char- 
acters, to love this friend who has always blessed 
you in all temporal and spiritual blessings, to obey 
this governor who has given you laws for your own 
improvement and happiness. Will you not then be 
influenced by these considerations to live as he 
designed, to live as he requires, to live to his glory s 
to liye a sober, righteous and godly life ? 



254 

2. You are urged to become practical christians by 
your unconquerable desire for happiness. You 
were indeed created for its gratification. This can 
be secured only by living as the gospel requires. 
Perhaps however some of you are expecting to 
satisfy this craving of the soul with some mere 
earthly advantage ; with worldly pleasures or honors 
or riches or distinctions. If so your expectations 
will assuredly be disappointed. For the longings of 
your spiritual, immortal mind can never be satisfied 
with material, sensual, temporal gifts. Go to the 
man of dissipation ; ask if his excessive indulgen- 
ces yield him unalloyed happiness; if he speaks 
the truth, he will acknowledge that they cause 
almost unmingled wretchedness. Go to the miser; 
ask if his hoarded treasures afford him pure satis- 
faction ; if he speaks the truth, he will admit that 
they are vanity and vexation of spirit. Go to the 
slave of ambition ; ask if his honors and emoluments 
secure him constant and rational enjoyment ; if he 
speaks the truth, he will confess that they are 
empty bubbles. Propose the same enquiry to 
all who seek for happiness in merely worldly grati- 
fications, and you must receive similar answers. 
No; nothing but christian principles, dispositions, 
habits and hopes can cause you to rejoice at all 
times and under all circumstances. If you cherish 
and possess and exhibit these, you will live up to 
the dignity of your noble nature. You will ever 
feel yourselves in the presence and keeping of a 
perfect and unchangable Father, You will regard 



255 

all the events of the world which are above human 
control as under the direction of infinite wisdom and 
paternal love. You will ever regard your risen Sa- 
viour as the pledge of your own immortality. Your 
appetites and passions will be subject to the voice of 
reason and revelation. Your bosom will be filled 
with animating prospects of future glory. ¥"ou will 
secure at all times the approbation of your con- 
science. Your moral • goodness will claim the 
respect and esteem of all worthy minds. You will 
be prepared for the trials and afflictions of mortality. 
Your happiness being founded on your christian 
character will not depend on your outward circum- 
stances, but will be increased by every new acces- 
sion of temporal good. Be practical christians then 
and you will assuredly secure the true enjoyment of 
this life, and a preparation for heavenly felicity. 
This I declare unto you upon the authority of all 
the unprincipled and wicked ; for their hearts 
uniformly testify, that the ways of transgressors are 
hard and wretched. This I say upon the authority 
of all the righteous ; for they unitedly declare that 
the ways of religion are ways of pleasantness and 
peace. This I affirm upon the testimony of your 
own consciences ; for they already reproach you 
for neglecting and disregarding the gospel requisi- 
tions. This I aver upon the testimony of Jesus ; 
for he commanded you to seek first the kingdom of 
heaven and its righteousness. This I repeat upon 
the injunction of your heavenly Father ; for he has 
called upon you to remember your Creator in the 



256 

days of your youth. And can you withstand all 
this authority ; the united testimony of earth and 
heaven ? Will you turn a deaf ear to the warning 
and inviting and encouraging voice of reason and 
conscience, of experience and observation, of the 
wise and holy, of Jesus and God ? Will you not 
seek happiness in the only path in which it can be 
found, in loving your Father and your fellow men, 
in preserving yourselves pure, and cultivating your 
immortal nature ? 

3. You are urged to become practical christians by 
your obligations to your Saviour. Consider what he 
has done and suffered for your salvation. From his 
instructions you first learn that God is really and truly 
your Father and the common Parent of the human 
family ; that he is ever present to uphold and protect 
and bless you ; that he never afflicts you in anger, 
or wrath, or resentment, but in infinite wisdom and 
love, and solely for the best good of all concerned ; 
that he is constantly showering upon you temporal 
and spiritual blessings, and that he will never desert 
the offspring of his affection, but forever remain their 
unchangeable friend. From his revelations and res- 
urrection you are assured of another life and a hap- 
py reunion with all the ransomed of the Lord. Con- 
sider too how much it cost him to proclaim these 
glad tidings and confirm their truth with satisfactory 
evidence. You behold him in poverty, destitute of 
the necessaries of life, and having not even a place 
for quiet sleep. You behold him calumniated and 
persecuted by the envious jews and bigoted phari- 



257 

sees. You witness his agony in the ever memorable 
garden, overwhelmed with such intense mental suf- 
fering as to cause his blood to burst from the very- 
pores of his mortal body. You behold him in the 
council chamber of Pilate, falsely accused, unjustly 
condemned, cruelly insulted, inhumanly scourged, 
barbarously mocked. You behold him nailed to the 
accursed cross, in distress calling upon his God, his 
tortures malignantly derided by the degraded priests, 
his precious side pierced with a spear, and his hum- 
ble piety commending his departing spirit into the 
hands of his ever-present Father. When you read 
the tale of fictitious woe, your hearts are melted in 
compassion, and your eyes are suffused with tears of 
sorrow. And have you no sympathy with the suf- 
ferings of Jesus, the unparalleled sufferings of a cru- 
cified Saviour, endured to rescue you from igno- 
rance and error and sin and death ? And when you 
listen to the tale of heroic deeds, the tear of gener- 
ous approbation moistens your cheeks. And have 
you no approving tears for the heroic, the godlike 
sacrifices of Jesus? for him who could cheerfully 
do and suffer so much for the benefit of an ungrate- 
ful world ? for him who could forgive his brutal mur- 
derers, and while enduring the excruciating pains of an 
ignominious death, could even sincerely pray, Father, 
forgive them for they know not what they do ? O 
yes. The youthful heart was not made to throb at 
the relation of imaginary trials merely. You can 
feel more deeply for the scenes of reality and sub- 
limity. And what does this disinterested Saviour 
23 



258 

require of you ? Nothing for his own advantage ; 
nothing for the benefit of his Father; no, but every- 
thing for your own happiness. He wishes you to be 
practical christians, so that you may conform to the 
unchangeable laws of your nature ; so that you may 
obey the everlasting dictates of cultivated reason ; 
so that you may yield to the directions of enlight- 
ened conscience ; so that you may render obedience 
to the divine commands of your merciful Parent; 
so that you may live useful, respectable and happy 
lives ; so that you may be prepared to meet calmly 
and cheerfully all the troubles of this mortal pilgrim- 
age; so that you can rejoice in the approach of 
death, and enter gloriously upon the felicities of 
heaven. O let these considerations induce you to 
make choice of practical religion, to receive the 
gospel of Jesus for your standard of faith and prac- 
tice, to study his teachings with prayerful attention, 
to imitate his example with scrupulous care, to im- 
bibe largely of his heavenly spirit. Yes, make this 
wise choice ; a choice which you will never repent, 
a choice which will ever secure your approbation, 
a choice which will insure your present and ever- 
lasting happiness. 

And choose this day. Say not that a more con- 
venient season will arrive. Tomorrow may bring 
its cares and anxieties and engagements. Your 
affections may become more deeply engrossed in 
worldly pursuits. Your serious impressions may be 
gradually effaced. Your good resolutions may 
grow weaker and weaker until wholly dissipated. 
And when too late to admit a remedy, you may dis- 



259 

cover that life has afforded you little or no satisfac- 
tion ; that you have few or no resources of enjoy- 
ment in your own bosoms ; that you are destined to 
wear out a miserable old age with fruitless wishes, 
and that you must enter the portal of eternity with- 
out the cheering and supporting light of gospel hope. 
I do not affirm that this will be your condition. 
But I do assert that it has been the case of thou- 
sands who have deferred attention to religion to 
some more convenient season. And it may be your 
fate ; for now is the most accepted time, and now is 
your best day for salvation. 

Choose this day. Say not that you have suffi- 
cient security for your virtue. Tomorrow may 
spread before you its beguiling temptations. Your 
innocence may be overcome. Your integrity may 
be conquered. The restraints of principle once 
wilfully broken, and the flood gates of depravity will 
be thrown open. A second sinful step may be 
taken, and so on; and at each step you may plunge 
deeper and deeper in iniquity, and sink lower and 
lower in degradation, until all hope of reformation is 
lost, I do not aver that this will be your condition. 
But I do affirm that it has been the case of thou- 
sands who have renounced the councils of religion, 
and trusted to their own unaided strength for safety. 
And it may be your fate ; for you are now entreat- 
ed to remember your Creator in the days of your 
youth. 

Yes, choose this day. Say not that a long life 
is before you. Tomorrow the iusiduous disease 



260 

may attack your constitution. All medical aid ma/ 
prove ineffectual. Your strength may decay. 
Your flesh may waste. Your spirits may sink. 
And in a few weeks or months you may be called 
to part with all things below. And in the hour of 
separation, you will wish but too vainly wish, that 
you had followed the instructions of Jesus. I do 
not declare that this will be your condition. But I 
do aver that it has been the case of thousands who 
have trusted to their youth and health for length of 
days, and put far away the period of sickness and 
dissolution. And it may be your fate ; for now 
you are favored with every advantage and means for 
spiritual improvement. And I do also affirm, that 
whenever you shall be called from this world, 
whether sooner or later, if you have chosen the 
good part of religion, you will depart in peace to 
regions of never ending blessedness. But if you 
should neglect this affectionate entreaty, and be 
removed to eternity while destitute of the spirit and 
hopes of the gospel, you may look back to this 
day as the period of the last strivings of your 
Father's spirit. But should you now choose to 
become practical christians, and commence effect- 
ually the work of teformation and improvement and 
salvation, you will ever rejoice in the- return of this 
as the anniversary of your happiness both for time 
and eternity. Choose you then this day whom, you 
will serve* 



SERMON XXI. 



NATURE AND NECESSITY OF HOLINESS. 



HEBREWS XII. 14* AND HOLINESS WITHOUT WHICH NO MAN- 
SHALL SEE THE LORD. 



Your attention is requested to some remarks on 
the nature and necessity of holiness. 

I. What then is holiness ? 

1. Holiness is christian goodness. A holy char- 
acter is a christian character. In order then to ac- 
quire holiness you must receive the christian scrip- 
tures as the guide of your religious belief and moral 
conduct. You must study them with fidelity, and 
whatever doctrines they reveal you must firmly be- 
lieve ; whatever duties they enjoin you will perse- 
veringly perform, although it should require great 
and constant exertions. So also whatever sins they 
condemn you must forsake and avoid, although this 
should cost you much self-denial and many painful 
sacrifices. As each one of you is answerable to God 
alone for your faith and practice, so must each one 
of you determine for himself, what doctrines are 
23* 



262 

repealed, what duties are required, what s-ins are 
forbidden. And you must examine the sacred 
writings so regularly, and cultivate a christian spirit 
so faithfully, and perform your duties so constantly, 
and avoid sin so vigilantly, that the result may be 
habits ; habits of serious thinking and feeling which 
may manifest themselves in outward conversation 
and conduct. Habits like these must constitute 
your character, and must be formed by voluntary, 
unremitting, prayerful exertions, aided by the prom- 
ised influences of the divine spirit. If you are 
truly engaged, and strictly faithful to yourselves, 
your character will be christian, belong to what 
denomination you may, because you have formed it 
according to your honest understanding of the 
teachings and requisitions of the christian religion. 
And because christian, it must be a holy character : 
for holiness is nothing more nor less than christian 
goodness. 

2. But if holiness is acquired, perhaps you will 
ask, if there is a period in the life of every christian 
when its acquisition commenced ? Strictly speak- 
ing there must be such a time, although it is gener- 
ally unknown to the person himself. This period 
is different with different individuals. Some com- 
mence a christian life, the formation of a christian 
character, in the very morning of their days ; others 
in youth ; others in middle age ; and others in 
advanced years. The causes which lead to this 
beginning are also various ; almost as various as the 
individuals affected by their influence. Those who 



263 

begun at a very early age, who cannot remember 
the time when they did not conscientiously love 
their heavenly Father and scrupulously endeavor to 
obey his laws, are doubtless indebted to the early, 
judicious, successful instructions of pious parents and 
friends. And though for a time their knowledge of 
God and Christ and duty were very imperfect, yet 
they acted up to the light they enjoyed, and thus 
really commenced the formation of holy characters. 
But you might as reasonably require them to speci- 
fy the time when they began to love their earthly 
parents, as the period when they began to love their 
heavenly Father. Others who have passed a few 
or perhaps many years in a careless, thoughtless 
manner as regards religion, are led to reform their 
characters, to begin the practice of neglected duties, 
and the correction of unholy affections and sinful 
practices, by the perusal of the scriptures, the 
instructions of the sabbath, the goodness of prov- 
idence, serious reflection and self-examination. 
Others again are roused from their spiritual slum- 
bers by extraordinary means ; such as the loss of 
friends, recovery from sickness, a remarkable pres- 
ervation, a striking providence, a powerful excite- 
ment of mind. There are still others of all ages 
who have never begun in earnest the great work of 
reformation and improvement, and who pay no 
special regard to the christian invitations and in- 
structions. 

3. Not only so. There are different degrees of 
goodness and wickedness, both among those who are 



264 

endeavoring to live christian lives and those who 
pay no particular attention to the gospel. For in 
this world no one can be so good as not to have 
something bad attached to him ; if he could he 
would be a very angel ; for an angel can be nothing 
more than wholly good. Neither can any one be so 
bad as not to have something good attached to him ; 
if he could he would be a very devil ; for a devil 
can be nothing more than wholly bad, totally 
depraved. Every character is therefore mixed as 
you must have learnt from experience and observa- 
tion as well as from revelation. But those are con- 
sidered • holy in the scriptures who sincerely en- 
deavor to regulate their hearts and lives by the 
christian standard, although still guilty of many 
transgressions. Those are accounted wicked who 
pay no proper attention to the divine laws, and the 
performance of their incumbent duties, although 
possessed of some good qualities. And the time 
when a person begins a religious life is when he 
begins to act from christian motives and principles. 
To some this time is known ; to others equally good 
it is unknown. Some have many experiences to 
relate ; others equally pious are unwilling to relate 
any. There are divers operations but all of the 
same spirit. It is therefore of little or no conse- 
quence to any one, whether this time be known 
or unknown, or by what means he was first excited 
to reform his heart and life, provided he is careful 
in avoiding all that he knows to be wrong, and faith- 
ful in performing all that he knows to be right. 



265 

Neither is it proper to fix upon any age as the most 
proper season for beginning a .christian life. The 
whole of life is given to prepare for heaven. This 
preparation consists in the formation of a holy or 
christian character. And as the future happiness 
of any individual will be proportioned to his degrees 
of moral goodness, he is urged by every considera- 
tion of hope and fear, of interest, gratitude and love, 
to begin to live a sober, righteous and godly life 
instantly and in earnest, let his age be what it may. 

4. But if your happiness is to depend on your 
christian goodness, perhaps you will ask, how salva- 
tion can properly be called a free gift ? If it can be 
received by none but the good, and if holiness is to 
be acquired by one's own exertions, how is it to be 
considered free ? I answer, that salvation is still a 
free gift on the part of God. Let me illustrate. 
Your temporal blessings are his free gifts. From 
him you receive life, support, friends ; all civil, 
social, domestic blessings. You do not however . 
receive them without continual exertions on your 
part. But they are not less the free gifts on that 
account. For he receives nothing from you in 
return nor ever can ; because he is a perfect being, 
the perfect creator of all things. And the love 
and worship and obedience you render to your 
• heavenly Father redound to your own benefit, 
increase your own enjoyment, and not the felicity 
of a perfectly happy being. So too the salvation of 
your souls from sin is his free gift, not only in this 
way but in a more peculiar sense. For it was he 



266 

who sent Jesus into the world to save men from 
ignorance, error, superstition, depravity and death ; 
and he did all that was necessary for this purpose. 
He exhibited the paternal character of your maker, 
and his benevolent designs respecting his human 
children. He left for our instruction and consola- 
tion the blessed gospel, and for our imitation a 
spotless example. He died to seal the truth of his 
declarations, and was raised from the dead to assure 
us of the certainty of our immortality. All this 
has your Father caused to be done for the salvation 
of men, without our having done anything to merit 
such favors ; without our having it in our power to 
make any return whatever. Is not salvation then a 
free gift on the part of God although you cannot 
secure it without holiness? Suppose an earthly 
parent leaves to an only son his whole estate, on 
condition that the son will give a certain portion to 
a friend. If the son complies with the condition he 
receives the legacy ; if not he forfeits the gift. 
Now whether the son complies or not, is not the 
legacy a free gift on the part of the father ? Pre- 
cisely so with your salvation. God offers it to 
you on condition of your becoming holy; with 
which condition you have full power to comply. 
Now whether you comply or not, is not salvation 
a free gift on the part of God ? Most assuredly. * 
Nothing can be plainer. If you accept the condi- 
tion, all you can do, all you are required to do, is to 
qualify yourself for the enjoyment of a free, unpur- 
chased gift. Consequently there is no inconsistent 



267 

cy in calling salvation a free gift, although you 
receive it only when by your exertions you become 
holy. 

II. But why cannot salvation be attained with- 
out the possession of christian goodness? . 

1. Because the nature of the soul is such that it 
must be holy before it can possibly be happy. All 
your knowledge of the human soul must be derived 
from its operations and from revelation. From expe- 
rience you learn that there is a principle within you 
which thinks, reasons, judges, remembers, imagines. 
This is called the mind or soul. You also learn 
that this spiritual being can be expanded by disci- 
pline and cultivation ; can make unlimited acquisi- 
tions in knowledge ; can from habits of thinking and 
feeling and acting ; can enjoy exquisite happiness or 
suffer the keenest misery. You likewise learn that 
its present happiness or misery depends in a very 
great degree on its moral state ; on its purity or 
pollution ; on its goodness or wickedness. For you 
well know that if you cherish proper motives, virtu- 
ous thoughts, amiable dispositions, benevolent feel- 
ings, pious affections, you are happy. These are 
joyful and agreeable states of the soul. Your 
happiness results from their being holy states ; for 
holiness is happiness. On the contrary you also 
well know that if you cherish unhallowed motives, 
evil and sensual thoughts, sinful desires, and un- 
holy affections, you are miserable. These are 
tormenting states of your soul. Your misery re- 
sults from their being wicked states; for wicked- 



268 

ness is wretchedness. You thus perceive that the 
soul was made for goodness, and consequently it 
must be holy before it can be happy even in this 
world, for this is required by its -very nature. 

Now the gospel assures us that the soul shall nev- 
er die, that it is immortal. And there is good, rea- 
son to believe that it enters the next stage of exist- 
ence as it leaves this, with all its habits of thought 
and feeling and affection as here formed, with all its 
moral character as here decided. For if the mind 
when it enters the spiritual world loses its remem- 
brance of a former state, it is not the same soul ; it 
is not immortal ; and this earthly scene has no con- 
nexion whatever with another life. But this is ab- 
surd, and plainly contradicted by reason and revela- 
tion. It appears to me morally certain that on be- 
ginning another existence, the soul will be the same, 
will preserve its consciousness, will maintain its iden- 
tity, will bear precisely the same character, as when 
it leaves this world. ; If so, and if its happiness here 
depends almost wholly on its moral goodness, then 
its happiness must depend on the same cause, there. 
Holiness must produce happiness, and iniquity 
misery. For your Father being unchangeable will 
remain unchanged ; the principles of his moral 
governmeut being eternal will remain unaltered ; 
the human soul being immortal will retain the same 
nature, and the same capacity for suffering and 
enjoyment ; and the distinction between sin and 
holiness, misery and happiness, will be lasting as 
eternity. Consequently the nature of the soul is 
such that it must be holy before it can be happy. 



5&. Not only so. The nature of heavenly happi- 
ness is such that it cannot be enjoyed without holi- 
ness. You are assured that heaven is a state of 
purity and excellence. It is the abode of the 
spirits of just men made perfect, of an innumerable 
company of angels, of Jesus the mediator of the 
new covenant, and of God the judge and father of 
all. Now to enjoy such society, to be happy with 
such beings, you must be in some degree like them. 
You must have similar dispositions and desires. 
You must be qualified for their employments and 
pleasures. And if you live a life of active good- 
ness, you will resemble them in some humble 
degree, and you will have the most' ardent desires 
to , become still more perfect. But if you pay no 
sincere regard to goodness, and cultivate no love for 
your heavenly Father here, how can you find hap- 
piness in practising goodness and loving your 
Father at your entrance into a future existence ? 
How can a wicked person enjoy pure and spiritual 
society? If you love yourselves and earthly objects 
supremely until your very entrance into eternity, 
can you then immediately transfer your affections to 
your Saviour and your God? Can you then imme- 
diately change all your habits of thought, feeling 
and action, and bring yourself to delight at once in 
the purity and holy occupations of heaven? Or can 
you with selfish desires, earthly propensities, undis- 
ciplined passions, and evil habits, be a proper com- 
panion for those justified spirits who love their 
Maker supremely, and their associated fellows as 
24 



270 

themselves ? O No. Before you can be happy its 
the society of pure and holy spirits you must be 
pure and holy. For the nature of heavenly hap- 
piness is such that it cannot be enjoyed without 
holiness. 

3. But this is not all. The foregoing arguments 
are fully confirmed by the general scope and object 
of the christian scriptures. I think the most care- 
less perusal must convince you that all things there 
recorded ; all the truths and doctrines there reveal- 
ed ; all the entreaties, exhortations, warnings, prom- 
ises there given ; all the instructions, labors, and 
sufferings of Jesus and his apostles there mentioned, 
were designed to affect one great purpose j that of 
turning mankind from ignorance,, error and wicked- 
ness to knowledge, truth and goodness. And all 
this is intended, not certainly for the benefit of God. 
for he is a perfect being, and cannot be benefited by 
his creatures, but for the benefit of his rational 
children ; because ignorance, error, sin and deprav- 
ity make them miserable, punish them ; while know- 
ledge, truth, virtue, piety and holiness make them 
happy, reward them. 

You are assured that God is no respecter of per- 
sons, but will render unto every man according to 
his deeds. Now is this the case in the present life ? 
Is there an equal distribution of the means of im- 
provement and happiness ? This no one will pre- 
tend. Then there is not an equal distribution of 
rewards and punishments; for christian rewards 
consist in knowledge and goodness, and these can 



271 

mot be acquired without the necessary means. If 
then there is justice in God, if he is an impartial 
parent of all his children, he will surely rectify 
these inequalities in a future existence, where sin 
will receive its full and just punishment, and holi- 
ness its full and just reward. I think this impres- 
sion must be left on the mind of every candid read- 
er of the gospel. It is therefore unnecessary to 
quote particular passages to confirm this statement. 
It is sufficient to mention the plain, explicit, solemn 
declaration of Jesus to this effect, which no ingenui- 
ty has yet been able to pervert from its true and 
obvious meaning. The hour is coming, in the 
which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 
and shall come forth ; they that have done good 
unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have 
done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation. 
For without holiness no man shall see the Lord. 

Perhaps you will now ask, if future misery is 
consistent with the known benevolence of God ? 
Perhaps you will argue in these terms ; God is per- 
fectly benevolent 5 he wills the happiness of all his 
children ; he is a perfect sovereign ; his will must 
therefore be accomplished, and all his rational off- 
spring saved from any future punishment. Now 
this is not correct reasoning. Your conclusion is 
not legitimately drawn from your premises. That 
God is perfectly benevolent I grant ; for he is infinite 
love. That he wills the salvation or happiness of 
nail his children I also grant ; for his perfections do 
not permit him to will anything but ultimate felicity. 



272. 

That all his offspring are either happy here or wilt 
be so at their entrance into eternity I do not grant., 
and for the following brief reasons. He wills your 
temporal happiness as much and m the same man- 
ner as he wills your future happiness. Yet you are 
not all happy in this world. There are many whom 
sin renders miserable. They are not sinful and 
consequently miserable because God has so willed 
or so made them, but because they have made 
themselves so, because they have disobeyed the 
laws he gave and commanded them to observe on 
penalty of the experienced punishment, because they 
have abused their moral freedom, and followed their 
own perverse wills to the neglect of the divine will. 
You thus perceive that even their temporal happi- 
ness does not depend wholly on the will of their 
Father. They have wills of their own which are 
free, free to choose and act, and if they do not will, 
do not choose, to be holy and consequently happy ? 
God does not compel them to be holy and happy. 
But did happiness depend wholly on the divine will, 
were we mere machines to be moved only at his 
will, then I grant that we should be continually 
happy ; for a being of love could will nothing but 
happiness. But your own experience and observa- 
tion teach you differently. I feel that I am a free 
agent. I am conscious that my present happiness 
depends principally on myself; on my willing to be 
either righteous or wicked, and conforming to the 
decisions of my own will. And I see no reason 
whatever to believe that my willj which is nothing 



273 

but a particular state of ray mind, is to experience 
any special change by the dissolution of my body. 
Even if it should, my sinful habits would still remain 
to torment me ; the remembrance of my past ingrat- 
itude and sinfulness would produce punishment. 
But if my character remains unaffected by death, 
and my soul enters the other world as many leave 
this, impenitent, unreformed, unholy, what is to give 
me happiness? What is to save me from the nat- 
ural consequences of my wickedness ? Must I not 
suffer so long as I remain polluted? But perhaps 
you will assert that he who is dead is freed from sin. 
How so ? What is the meaning of the apostle in 
this declaration ? Look at the connexion and you 
will be easily convinced. He that is dead to sin is 
freed from sin, the power, the punishment, the hell 
of sin. Now this is precisely the doctrine I am 
advocating. When therefore the scriptures speak 
of God as willing the salvation of all men, you will 
carefully notice that he first wills they should come 
to a knowledge of the truth, to repentance, to refor- 
mation, to holiness ; and whenever they do sincerely 
believe and obey the gospel they are saved, and not 
until then. It would be as much of a miracle for 
God to make a wicked person happy in his sins, 
either in this world or the next, as to raise the dead 
or create a universe. So long therefore as misery 
either here or hereafter is the fruit of your own choos- 
ing, it can present no objection to the perfect benevo- 
lence of God. 

5. Perhaps you will finally ask, how those who 
24* 



274 

die in infancy and childhood can be happy Hi s 
future existence, since they were not born holy and 
have not lived long enough to acquire holiness r 
This question I will candidly answer. An infant, 
though not a moral agent and of course without any 
moral character, is still a subject of the kingdom of 
heaven, as expressly affirmed by the Saviour. He 
is innocent, for he has committed no sin. He is 
pure, for his soul being spiritual must proceed 
directly from the Father of spirits, from whom no 
impure thing can proceed. And because he is 
innocent and pure, just as he came from the hands 
of his Maker, he is an object of divine complacency 
and love ; and at death he is conveyed to mansions 
of eterual blessedness by those guardian angels who 
do always behold the face of their Father in heaven. 
There he can suffer nothing ; for his soul is free 
from sin, the only cause of suffering in a spiritual 
world. Nor can he ever suffer ; for lie has no evil 
in himself, and no temptations around him ; he 
sees none but good examples to imitate, and hears 
only the language of truth and piety ; he receives 
none but holy instructions, and associates with none 
but pure beings ; of course he will commit no sin y 
and consequently can suffer no punishment. Though 
he suffers nothing nor ever can, neither can he enter 
immediately upon perfect spiritual happiness. For 
he enters the other world as ignorant as he leaves 
this'f his existence is but just commenced ; he has 
not acquired the full exercise of his faculties ; he 
has formed no moral character ; of course he is no, 



275 

better prepared for perfect spiritual happiness than 
an infant in this world. But in this state he cannot 
long continue ; for he has entered the kingdom of 
heaven ; he is in the society of just men made per- 
fect, who will delight in instructing him in the 
duties and enjoyments of the spiritual regions; he is 
received into the mansions of Jesus, who while on 
earth took little children into his arms and blessed 
them as the lambs of his fold j he is in the more 
immediate presence of God, who is love, and who 
loves all the works of his hands. Under such 
instructers, and with such examples, his progress 
in knowledge and holiness must be incalculable, and 
in exact proportion to his increase in these will be 
his increase in unalloyed happiness. Thus though 
destitute of personal holiness when borne by angels 
to paradise, he soon acquires a character altogether 
holy, and quickly becomes qualified for complete 
heavenly happiness ? This speculation on the future 
condition of infants and children seems to me both 
rational and scriptural, and perfectly consistent with 
the necessity of holiness as a preparation for future 
happiness. I must therefore conclude, from consid- 
ering the nature of the soul, the nature of heavenly 
happiness, and the general scope of the new testa- 
ment, that christian goodness is absolutely essential 
to the soul's salvation, to its present and future hap- 
piness. 

Thus, my friends, have I endeavored to show you 
the nature and necessity of holiness, and to answer 
such objections as might naturally be supposed to 



216 

arise in some of your minds. The truth of my 
statements and the correctness of my reasoning, I 
call upon each one of you to try by the test of your 
own experience, observation and bible. But for 
one I am fully persuaded that there are no substi- 
stutes for christian goodness. You may talk of the 
mercy of God, or the atonement of Christ, or the 
doctrine of election, or of a free unconditional 
salvation ; but unless you maintain christian charac- 
ters you cannot enjoy real happiness in this life ; 
you cannot rationally and scripturally expect to 
enjoy the felicity of heaven. Be entreated then, as 
you value yoUr temporal and eternal salvation, to 
follow after holiness, without which no man can see 
the Lord. 



SERMON XXII. 



2 PETER III. 18. GROW IN GRACE, AND IN THE KNOW- 
LEDGE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. 



To whom is this exhortation applicable? To 
every individual present. For none of us have 
arrived at christian perfection. All of us have 
more or fewer imperfections and failings. We all 
neglect the performance of more or fewer incum- 
bent duties ; and the cultivation of more or fewer 
gospel virtues. Our characters are indeed various. 
Some of us have done more for ourselves than 
others. But our exemplar is yet a great distance 
before the best of his followers ; and the time can 
never come, when we shall be so virtuous and 
pious that we can make no further progress in holi- 
ness. No. We are created for ever increasing 
and never ending improvement. It is therefore 
highly important that we should be exhorted to grow 
in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ, 



278 

But what does this exhortation require? It 
requires us all to be constantly increasing in know- 
ledge and goodness ; to be continually improving in 
every christian grace and affection ; to be unceas- 
ingly and zealously striving to conform to the spot- 
less example of our chosen master. Yes. We 
must cultivate our love to God. Our affection for 
him must daily increase. Its fruits must be more 
fully manifested in our submission to his holy will ; 
in our gratitude for his unfailing blessings ; in our 
confidence in his unchangeable friendship ; and in 
our conformity to his moral image. We must also 
cultivate our love for our Saviour. Our affection 
for him should be more and more manifested, in our 
study of his character ; in our imitation of his 
example ; in our acquisition of his temper, and in 
our unreserved submission to his authority. We 
must likewise cultivate our love for our fellow men. 
Our benevolence towards them must be rendered 
more visible by our good works ; by doing unto 
them as we would have them do unto us ; and by 
doing all in our power for the promotion of their 
best welfare. We must finally cultivate true self- 
love ; for this is the christian principle of action. 
And we must manifest its influence, by regarding 
things according to their real value ; by taking into 
our estimate the whole of our existence ; by regu- 
lating all our appetites and passions by the rules of 
reason and revelation, and making constant progress 
in the acquisition of knowledge, wisdom and good- 
ness. This is what we must do in order to comply 



279 

With the apostolic injunction; in order to grow id 
grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. 

But in what manner can we obey this injunction ? 
By making a diligent and faithful use of the means 
of spiritual improvement ; and by seeking the prom- 
ised assistance of our Father's spirit. And what 
are some of these means of grace ? The example 
of Jesus with which to compare our own character, 
so as to learn our deficiencies and transgressions ; 
and the instructions of Jesus which teach us our 
duties, and furnish the motives to their performance. 
We have also, the devotions and instructions of 
the church ; the writings of wise and experienced 
christians ; social intercourse and private meditation 
and devotion, and the positive ordinances of our 
religion. All these are furnished to aid us in our 
onward progress in the christian life. 

But how shall we employ these means of grace, 
so as to secure the desired improvement? Let a 
few examples illustrate. Suppose then you wish to 
increase in humility. You must first acquire a 
definite notion of the nature and fruits of this 
christian virtue. This can be done by a careful 
perusal of the gospel history. Look at the conduct 
of the chosen apostles. You see a display of the 
opposite vice. You find them aspiring to the high- 
est honors of their master's supposed temporal king- 
dom, and frequently disputing among themselves 
who should be greatest. Our Saviour repeatedly 
reproved them for their pride and ambition, and in- 



280 

culcated the lesson of meekness and humility. He 
exhibited an example of these virtues in his own 
life and conversation. Having thus formed a cor- 
rect idea of this peculiarly christian disposition, you 
must next seek for motives to its earnest cultivation. 
These may be readily discovered. For your own 
experience has doubltess taught you, that feelings of 
jealousy, pride, envy and self-righteousness, are ever 
attended with uneasiness and dissatisfaction ; and on 
the contrary, that self-sacrifice, benevolence and 
humility always produce mental peace and appro- 
bation. Being convinced by such reflections that 
your interest and duty coincide, you will endeavor 
to repress all selfish, proud and haughty risings ; 
and cultivate a lowly estimation of your own worth, 
by comparing your attainments in holiness with your 
advantages ; with your obligations ; with your Sa- 
viour's example. By such meditations and resolu- 
tions, by such exertions and endeavors, you will 
gradually wear away the habit of thinking of your- 
self more highly than you ought, and of acting in 
conformity with your humble opinion of your own 
improvement and deserts. The christian disposi- 
tion of humility will thus take deep root in your 
heart, and bring forth fruit an hundred fold. 

Not only so. Suppose I wish to have the love 
of God increased in my heart. I shall daily reflect 
on his existence as proved from the works of crea- 
tion ; and on his greatness as displayed in the 
firmament of heaven ; and on his paternal character 
as revealed in the blessed gospel. I shall also con- 



281 

sider what he is to me, in giving me understanding 
from his own inspiration ; in placing me in this 
favored land of christian institutions ; in preserving 
my life and supplying my wants to the present 
time ; in multiplying around me so many valuable 
blessings. By sudh meditations my love for his 
character must increase. For we are so made 
that we cannot help loving goodness whenever 
known and seen and felt. And thus I shall be 
rendered more devoted to the divine service ; more 
resigned to the divine will, and more obedient to 
the divine laws. It is then only by ascertaining our 
deficiences, and learning the nature of the virtues to 
be acquired, and persevering in our good under- 
takings, that we can hope to make progress in the 
divine life. 

But this is not all. The principal thing remains 
to be mentioned. The foundation of all improve- 
ment of character is this ; an unconquerable de- 
sire for christian knowledge and piety. We must 
feel thoroughly convinced that we were created for 
holiness. We must realize that our highest, our only 
interest, is concerned in the formation and perfec- 
tion of the christian character. A love for religious 
goodness should therefore become the ruling passion 
of our souls ; that passion to which all others should 
surrender ; that passion which should ever stimulate 
us to inquire how we may improve in moral excel- 
lence ; that passion which should excite us to make 
every possible exerertion in the cause of self-improve- 
ment. If we cultivate and cherish this thirst for 
25 



282 

gospel righteousness, we shall be daily and even 
hourly engaged in self-discipline and self-cultivation. 
And there is no other way, in which we can secure the 
promised influence of our Father's spirit ; no other 
way in which we can make certain advancement in 
the christian course ; no other way in which we can 
grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

III. But what is the need of all this self-scrutiny, 
and this comparison of ourselves with the example of 
our Saviour, and this reflection on the nature of the 
christian virtues, and this unceasing endeavor to 
grow in knowledge and goodness ? What are the 
obstacles which oppose our progress? What are 
the discouragements which we shall encounter in 
the divine life ? 

1. Perhaps you regard the trials, and cares, and 
afflictions of life, as obstacles to spiritual improve- 
ment. But if you will attentively consider these 
things, you will find they do not present so formida- 
ble discouragements to a religious progress as you 
would at first imagine. You will remember that 
they are all wisely ordered by our heavenly 
Father. They are designed for our best ultimate 
good. We have the power of improving them to 
our benefit, or of misimproving them to our serious 
injury. And we must consider most of them as 
essential to our true enjoyment and superior excel- 
lence. Just notice a few examples. Were you 
not called to some mental or bodily labor, your 
health would materially suffer, and idleness would 



283 

prove a severe torment. Were you not required 
to have dealings with your fellow-men, you would 
enjoy no opportunities for establishing habits of 
honesty and veracity and charity. Were your 
wishes never disappointed, you would lose all facil- 
ities for acquiring the graces of patience and meek- 
ness and forbearance. Were you never bereaved 
of kindred and friends, you could not learn to 
exercise the virtues of sympathy and resignation. 
You thus perceive, that all your cares and trials 
and afflictions may be converted into the means of 
moral and spiritual improvement. Nay; unless 
they are rightly improved, they will prove curses to 
our happiness. For we may let our affections 
fasten so exclusively and tenaciously on the things 
of this world, as to neglect the grand concerns of 
our souls, and our obligations to our heavenly 
Father. We may let our daily cares render us 
impatient, fault finding, peevish. We may let our 
trials make us fretful, discontented, morose. We may- 
let our afflictions render us repining, gloomy, melan- 
choly. By realizing these dangers, and by know- 
ing how to regard all these apparent obstacles, we 
shall constantly be on our guard. We shall assid- 
uously endeavor to improve them to our best good. 
So that by making our labors increase our gratitude 
to God ; by making our trials subservient to the 
formation of virtuous habits ; by making our afflic- 
tions conducive to our progress in holiness, we shall 
overcome all these specious discouragements in the 
path of moral goodness, and convert them into 



284 

valuable means and opportunities for spiritual im- 
provement. 

2. Perhaps you may also regard your propensities 
and habits, as obstacles in your progress towards 
christian perfection. In this you are doubtless in 
the right. When we enter this world, we are all 
alike ; all equally destitute of either sin or holiness ; 
all equally pure and innocent. But while growing 
to years of maturity, various causes have operated 
to produce a difference in our views, feelings, habits, 
dispositions, characters. Our constitutional temper- 
aments are different ; so that we may encounter 
difficulty in overcoming our peculiar propensities ; 
we may be so nervous, as to become easily irritated, 
discouraged, depressed ; and consequently find 
difficulty in governing our feelings, tempers, pas- 
sions. Or we may have so great a flow of spirits, as 
to find it difficult to restrain our mirth, and exhibit 
becoming sobriety and modesty. So also in our 
habits. We may early have become accustomed to 
profanity, falsehood or evil speaking ; to covetous- 
ness, avarice, dishonesty ; to a neglect of the wor- 
ship, ordinances and institutions of religion. And 
thus experience great difficulty in breaking through 
long established and almost inveterate usages, and 
of acquiring long neglected moral graees and dispo- 
sitions and virtues. Most of us have undoubtedly 
some peculiar propensity, or some pernicious habits ; 
and these really present serious obstacles to our 
spiritual improvement. For you well know how 
much easier it is to follow in an old and beaten 



285 

track ; to obey a long indulged appetite ; to yield 
to a neglected passion ; than it is to make a new 
way ; to break off endeared customs ; to root out 
sinful inclinations ; to subdue rebellious and trium- 
phant passions. For the latter course requires 
much thought, reflection, exertion; while the for- 
mer may be trodden readily, easily, thoughtlessly. 
The only way then to overcome this class of dis- 
couragements, is by unremitting watchfulness and 
unwearied exertion. We must not accuse our nature 
as totally depraved, on account of the evils we have 
brought on ourselves. We must not expect mira- 
culous aid to help us out of the miry pit into which 
we have deliberately and voluntarily plunged our- 
selves. We must endeavor to know our most 
easily besetting sins. We must realize that we 
have no defects in our characters, but such as we 
have ourselves acquired ; and such too as we have 
power to avoid and forsake. We must feel that 
there are no virtues enjoined but such as have been 
exhibited in the human character, and such too as 
we may surely acquire. By thus understanding our 
enemies, we can conquer with certainty, if we will 
give constant and unremitting attention to the war- 
fare. 

3. Perhaps you may likewise regard the spiritual 
nature of our religion, and your slow progress in the 
divine life, as obstacles to your christian improve- 
ment. In this also you are surely in the right. 
For our moral goodness is made to consist in the 
proper state of the soul. If this be imbued with 
25* 



286 

holiness, the outward actions will be virtuous. 
When therefore you are exhorted to form the king- 
dom of heaven within you ; to cherish pious affec- 
tions ; to acquire holy states of the soul, you expe- 
rience some difficulty in knowing precisely what is 
meant ; you find nothing very tangible in the direc- 
tions. Were you ordered to offer sacrifices or 
prayers ; to go on a pilgrimage or make a confes- 
sion ; to give sums of money or abstain from food 
and drink, you would readily understand the exhor- 
tation, and you would easily perform the required 
service. The case is far different in the cultivation 
of the christian dispositions. For there is no labor 
to which we are so averse as disciplining our own 
thoughts, feelings, passions, desires. In order to 
effect this labor, we must exercise the mind in the 
correction of itself. We must repress every vain 
thought, every inordinate desire, every rebellious 
passion, every unhallowed affection. We must 
also form habits of right thinking and feeling as well 
as acting. And because we can see no immediate 
results of our works, we must not be discouraged. 
The word grow is used by the apostle for the very 
purpose of teaching the progressive and gradual 
nature of spiritual improvement. Did you ever see 
a vegetable grow ? You have seen many when 
grown. How foolish to complain, because you 
could not see the slow progress of the plant. It is 
the same in religion. The seed germinates and 
takes root in the heart ; it spreads forth its branches 
in every direction ; it comes to perfection through 



287 

much opposition ; and when somewhat grown may- 
be easily distinguished as the genuine plant of the 
gospel. It never springs up at once, and makes a 
sinner a saint in a moment. The path' of the just 
is as the shining light, which shines more and more 
unto the perfect day. 

IV. Such then are some of the principal obstacles 
in the way of spiritual improvement. But you are not 
left to overcome these discouragements single 
handed. You are furnished with the most powerful 
motives to exertion, perseverance and prayer. 

2. Yes, my friends, you are encouraged to grow in 
grace, by the certainty of success in your undertak- 
ing. For you were created for moral goodness, 
and your Creator has promised that all sincere 
exertions for its acquisition shall be crowned with a 
glorious victory. He is also ever ready to assist 
those who assist themselves ; and none other need 
expect assistance. As well may you hope for a 
harvest where no seed has been sown and no culti- 
vation rendered, as think to become good without 
great exertions to acquire moral goodness. But 
with constant and persevering endeavors, there can 
be no failure. Not so in any other concern. You 
may seek for riches, honors, distinctions, pleasures ; 
and continue unsuccessful in all your efforts. But 
if you sincerely strive to do right in all things, and 
to avoid the wrong at all times, you cannot be 
ultimately disappointed. You will acquire a love 
for virtuous courses, and establish virtuous habits, 
and form a virtuous character. And how infinitely 



288 

more valuable a good christian character, than any- 
earthly gift, or grace, or treasure, or emolument ? 
Without this moral goodness, what are the things of 
this world worth to you ; beauty, learning, wealth, 
flatteries, honors, or influence ? Can these alone 
give you inward peace ? The approbation of your 
own conscience ? The respect of the wise and 
good? the necessary consolation for the hour of 
sickness, sorrow or death ? or the essential qualifica- 
tion for the duties, joys and felicities of heaven ? 
But with a good christian character, have you not 
everything essential to the true enjoyment of this life ; 
everything which can qualify you for the pleasures, 
the trials, the afflictions of earth ; and the rewards 
and glories of the heavenly kingdom ? When there- 
fore you consider the infinite superiority of moral 
goodness over every temporal acquisition ; and 
when also you realize that all your well-directed 
efforts for an increase in christian knowledge and 
holiness shall be successful ; will not this motive 
exert a powerful influence over your hearts and 
lives? Will it not stimulate you to strive most 
earnestly to grow in grace and in the knowledge of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? 

2. But there is another motive still more efficient and 
moving. So sure as you increase your moral good- 
ness, just so sure you will increase your rational 
happiness. Do you doubt the truth of this asser- 
tion ? Try the experiment for yourselves. Set 
apart one week ; the one on which we have now 
entered ; and every time you feel unhappy, pause 



289 

and ascertain the cause of your misery. You will 
probably be surprised to learn that about nine tenths 
of your wretchedness might be wholly avoided, and 
the remaining tenth greatly diminished, if you were 
only as virtuous and as pious as you may become. 
For let us descend to a few particulars. At one 
moment, you suffer the follies or misconduct of 
those around you, to give you uneasiness and vexa- 
tion. All this you might avoid by obtaining a 
proper command of your feelings. At another 
time, your disappointment produces peevishness and 
depression of spirits. All this you might also shun, 
by possessing cheerful resignation to the. divine will. 
Soon you commit some sin, of thought, word, or 
deed, which is immediately followed by its natural 
painful consequence. This you would have escap- 
ed by abstaining from the transgression. Perhaps 
you may be afflicted by pain of body or mind. But if 
you have no compunctions of conscience; if you 
have a firm confidence in your ever present Father ; 
if you regard such afflictions as blessings in dis- 
guise ; your sufferings will be greatly diminished, 
your piety will raise you above such trials, and 
lead you to improve them to your own increase in 
happiness. And so in every instance that can be 
mentioned. You will uniformly find that true good- 
ness will either alleviate or prevent your miseries. 
Will you then seek for happiness in every other 
course ; toil and slave yourselves in a thousand 
different ways, and obtain nothing but vexation and 
disappointment ? Will you not rather exhibit more 



290 

reasonableness ; forsake and avoid all those practices 
which produce misery ; and perform those duties 
which secure happiness ? And will you not strive 
for that constant increase in moral goodness, which 
shall insure an unfailing increase of real enjoyment ? 
3. But finally, your obligation to your Father, for 
making your duty plain before you, and furnishing 
you with all necessary motives to its performance, 
should stimulate you to be constantly increasing in 
christian knowledge and goodness. He has sent 
his well beloved Son to be our Saviour. He has 
given us a revelation of his will. He has forbidden 
whatever would injure or destroy our enjoyment. 
He has commanded everything essential to our true 
happiness. He has furnished the sanctions of promises 
and threatenings, of rewards and punishments. And 
shall we render no gratitude for these distinguishing 
blessings ? Yes ; I call these distinguishing blessings. 
For what should we have been without the gospel ? 
Learn of heathen nations. Look even to Greece and 
Rome in their best days. The state of morals was 
wretchedly low. Even the wisest among them had 
no motive to do as well as they knew how ; to act 
up to their knowledge and convictions. For they 
had no correct ideas of the existence of one God. 
They never heard of an all perfect, ever present, 
universal Father. They understood not the hea- 
venly nature of christian goodness. No future 
existence was made certain to their minds and 
hearts. And the righteous retributions of eternity 
gave no strength to their good resolutions. Oh 



291 

how highly blessed are we, in knowing there is one 
God who is truly our friend and Father ; in having 
a perfect model of moral goodness in the example 
of our Saviour; and in the life and immortality 
brought to light in the gospel. Accordingly you 
find the best philosophers of antiquity despairing of 
ever seeing a reformation of public morals until 
some revelation should be made from heaven. 
Hear the observation of Socrates. ' You may give 
over all hopes of amending men's morals for the 
future, unless Deity be pleased to send some per- 
son to instruct you. Listen to the remark of Plato. 
1 Whatever is right and as it should be in this pres- 
ent state of the world, can be so only from the 
interposition of God.' What was the confession 
of Porphyry, an inveterate enemy to Christiani- 
ty ? ' There is wanting some universal method of 
delivering men's souls from wickedness, which 
no sect of philosophy has ever yet discovered!' 
This universal method is now revealed. You 
have it in the christian religion. The proof is in 
your own hands. Take the New Testament for 
your guide of faith and practice ; study its contents 
with care and attention ; forsake and avoid every- 
thing there condemned ; practise and pursue every- 
thing there required ; bring home to your conscien- 
ces the motives there declared ; and in this method 
form such a character as the gospel commands. 
Do this, and you will have the testimony within 
yourself, evidence irresistible, that this system is 
perfectly adapted to your nature and necessities. 



£92 

For your own experience will inform you, that 
misery follows disobedience, and happiness obedi- 
ence. And shall we manifest no gratitude for such 
distinguishing favors ? O yes ; if we feel as chil- 
dren should feel towards an all-perfect Father ; if 
we feel as penitent sinners should feel towards a 
disinterested and risen Saviour 5 if we feel as im- 
mortal beings should feel in view of an approaching 
and never-ending eternity, we shall manifest our 
gratitude, by obeying the gospel of eternal life. 

Let us then, my friends, apply the subject of dis- 
course to ourselves. Are we striving to grow in 
grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ ? Are we laboring to increase 
in christian knowledge and goodness? Let the 
question be put to every conscience, and let a faith- 
ful inquiry be instituted, and an honest answer 
returned. If we are sincere followers of Jesus, we 
are diligently striving for greater moral perfection ; 
and the fruits of our exertions are manifested in our 
dispositions, conversation and conduct. But if we 
are satisfied with our present attainments, we are 
probably growing worse ; degenerating into irreligion 
and wickedness. Let us never forget that im- 
provement, moral improvement, unremitting reli- 
gious improvement, never-ending spiritual improve- 
ment is the command, the unalterable and eternal 
command of our ascended Saviour. 



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